Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Stock Gets Price Target Reduction from Morgan Stanley

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its target price trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $163.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on GILD. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $155.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Leerink Partners downgraded Gilead Sciences from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $146.00 to $127.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $159.26.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of GILD opened at $151.17 on Wednesday. Gilead Sciences has a 12 month low of $114.02 and a 12 month high of $157.29. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $145.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $187.44 billion, a PE ratio of -56.62 and a beta of 0.31.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($6.75) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($7.25) by $0.50. The business had revenue of $7.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.40 billion. Gilead Sciences had a negative return on equity of 2.11% and a negative net margin of 10.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.01 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post -0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is currently -122.85%.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.02, for a total value of $725,100.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 10,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,459,771.32. This trade represents a 33.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Daniel O’Day sold 15,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.90, for a total value of $2,218,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 566,683 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,812,415.70. This trade represents a 2.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 105,000 shares of company stock valued at $14,940,540 in the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $15,393,785,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 61,216,552 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,734,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,357,967 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 15,584,341 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,912,822,000 after purchasing an additional 444,660 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 10.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 10,539,111 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,468,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the second quarter worth approximately $1,316,606,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Gilead Sciences

Here are the key news stories impacting Gilead Sciences this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains broadly favorable. JPMorgan said Gilead’s stock price is expected to rise, while Truist Financial raised its price target. Morgan Stanley also maintained a buy rating, despite lowering its expectations for the shares. JPMorgan analyst expects Gilead stock to rise Truist raises Gilead price target Morgan Stanley buy rating
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed its overweight rating and set a $155 price target, implying limited additional upside but reinforcing the view that Gilead remains attractive relative to the broader sector.
• Positive Sentiment: Gilead signed a five-year DevOps agreement with Cognizant to improve technology and operational processes. Separately, its oncology collaboration with Nurix was extended by two years, preserving the potential for milestone payments and royalties tied to future therapies. Gilead Cognizant agreement Gilead Nurix collaboration extension
• Neutral Sentiment: The reported October short-interest figure is zero shares, producing a zero-day short-interest ratio. This unusually low reading may reflect a reporting or data issue rather than a meaningful change in investor positioning.
• Negative Sentiment: RBC raised its target from $123 to $126 but retained a sector-perform rating; the target remains materially below the current share price. Morgan Stanley’s lower expectations and modest after-hours weakness also highlight near-term valuation risk. RBC Gilead price target

About Gilead Sciences

Gilead Sciences, Inc (NASDAQ: GILD) is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines for serious and life-threatening diseases. Its research and commercial activities focus primarily on virology, including HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, as well as oncology, inflammation and other areas of significant unmet medical need.

Gilead’s portfolio includes HIV treatments such as Biktarvy, Descovy, Genvoya and Sunlenca; hepatitis therapies including Epclusa, Harvoni and Vemlidy; and Veklury (remdesivir), an antiviral used to treat COVID-19 in certain patients.