Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Price Target Lowered to $78.00 at Morgan Stanley

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its target price trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $78.00 in a research note published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

GILD has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $74.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a hold rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Friday. UBS Group lowered their price target on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $83.87.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ GILD opened at $65.42 on Friday. Gilead Sciences has a 1-year low of $64.63 and a 1-year high of $87.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $71.28 and a 200-day moving average of $76.25. The firm has a market cap of $81.45 billion, a PE ratio of 181.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.19.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.49) by $0.17. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 23.08% and a net margin of 1.76%. The company had revenue of $6.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. Gilead Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 4.2 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 855.56%.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 83,364,123 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,753,350,000 after buying an additional 1,642,736 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,657,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,832,824,000 after buying an additional 1,743,418 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,630,134 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,509,227,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350,550 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,909,619 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,267,207,000 after purchasing an additional 158,794 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter worth $1,301,624,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Company Profile

Gilead Sciences, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes medicines in the areas of unmet medical need in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company provides Biktarvy, Genvoya, Descovy, Odefsey, Truvada, Complera/ Eviplera, Stribild, Sunlencs, and Atripla products for the treatment of HIV/AIDS; Veklury, an injection for intravenous use, for the treatment of COVID-19; and Epclusa, Harvoni, Vemlidy, and Viread for the treatment of viral hepatitis.