Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Receives “Sector Perform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reiterated by research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $84.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 15.03% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on GILD. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Daiwa America raised shares of Gilead Sciences to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $98.39.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of GILD stock traded up $1.66 on Monday, hitting $98.86. The stock had a trading volume of 2,937,436 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,628,631. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $92.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.96. Gilead Sciences has a 1 year low of $62.07 and a 1 year high of $99.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,100.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.18.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total transaction of $2,341,485.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 99,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,113,308.50. This trade represents a 20.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total transaction of $23,064,310.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 138,919 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,126.44. This represents a 64.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 456,234 shares of company stock valued at $42,130,461. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,780,329,000 after purchasing an additional 14,680,161 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,900,921,000 after buying an additional 11,665,593 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 723.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,434,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $594,370,000 after buying an additional 5,653,075 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 350.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,305,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $193,274,000 after buying an additional 1,793,145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 8,238.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,642,504 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $137,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,622,806 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

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.