Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Rating Lowered to Buy at StockNews.com

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on GILD. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Mizuho cut their target price on Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays cut their target price on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Truist Financial cut Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.71.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $66.76. The company had a trading volume of 10,656,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,352,068. Gilead Sciences has a twelve month low of $65.90 and a twelve month high of $87.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The stock has a market cap of $83.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.19. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.53.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $7.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.10 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 38.85%. Gilead Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.67 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.18, for a total value of $146,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 100,936 shares in the company, valued at $7,386,496.48. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the second quarter valued at $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Tompkins Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 223.1% during the 3rd quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 349 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.