BMO Capital Markets Raises Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Price Target to $94.00

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its target price raised by BMO Capital Markets from $85.00 to $94.00 in a report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Raymond James upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $93.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, July 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Gilead Sciences from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $100.00 in a report on Monday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.37.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GILD opened at $86.72 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.81. The stock has a market cap of $108.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 240.89, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $87.86.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 3.79%. The company had revenue of $6.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.64 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 855.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 100,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,398,843.87. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 100,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,398,843.87. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at $6,545,480.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 36,847 shares of company stock valued at $3,033,340. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 114,732,575 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,404,161,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,147 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the 1st quarter worth approximately $134,489,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 61,246,366 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,486,296,000 after buying an additional 1,589,240 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,889,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $541,310,000 after buying an additional 1,564,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth $102,298,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Gilead Sciences

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.