Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Stock

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley raised Gilead Sciences’ price target to $183 from $163 and maintained an “overweight” rating, implying roughly 6.2% upside from the reported share price.
• Gilead’s latest quarter exceeded expectations, with EPS of $2.55 versus $2.19 estimated and revenue of $8.3 billion, up 6.8% year over year. Strong HIV-treatment demand and Trodelvy growth supported results, while the company raised its full-year product-sales outlook.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with 23 Buy ratings and six Holds and a consensus target of $166.19. Key risks include expected Medicare pricing pressure on Biktarvy beginning in 2028 and recent insider stock sales.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $163.00 to $183.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the biopharmaceutical company's stock. Morgan Stanley's price target would indicate a potential upside of 6.19% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on GILD. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $185.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Friday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. HSBC boosted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $155.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 10th. Zacks Research downgraded Gilead Sciences from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Finally, UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $195.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Friday. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $166.19.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 4.1%

Shares of GILD traded up $6.72 on Friday, hitting $172.33. 5,712,259 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,788,732. The company has a market capitalization of $213.68 billion, a PE ratio of -64.52 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.27. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $150.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.55. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $114.02 and a one year high of $175.65.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.81 billion. Gilead Sciences had a negative return on equity of 2.11% and a negative net margin of 10.64%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post -0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew Dickinson sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.22, for a total transaction of $468,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 161,096 shares of the company's stock, valued at $25,166,417.12. The trade was a 1.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Daniel O'Day sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.64, for a total value of $2,229,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 577,133 shares of the company's stock, valued at $85,785,049.12. The trade was a 2.53% 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. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 111,000 shares of company stock worth $15,877,860. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the second quarter worth about $15,393,785,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.3% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. Amundi increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,316,606,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth $918,387,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company's stock.

Key Gilead Sciences News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 earnings beat expectations: Gilead reported adjusted earnings of $2.55 per share, above the $2.19 consensus, while revenue rose 6.8% year over year to $8.3 billion, exceeding estimates by approximately $500 million. Gilead Sciences quarterly earnings results
• Positive Sentiment: HIV franchise drives growth: Strong demand for Biktarvy and other HIV treatments helped produce the company’s best underlying growth in roughly a decade. Trodelvy sales increased 41.7% year over year to $506 million, while Livdelzi also contributed to growth. Gilead Q3 earnings and product sales
• Positive Sentiment: 2026 outlook raised: Gilead increased its full-year product-sales forecast to $31.0 billion-$31.3 billion from $30.1 billion-$30.4 billion, signaling continued confidence in its commercial performance. Gilead lifts sales guidance
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support strengthened: Needham raised its price target to $200, Wells Fargo to $190, and Truist to $181, with buy or overweight ratings. Gilead also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.82 per share.
• Neutral Sentiment: Pipeline and geographic expansion: A Canadian reimbursement agreement for Livdelzi could broaden access, and Gilead’s planned $1.275 billion acquisition of PepGen’s oral IL-23R program adds potential to its immunology pipeline. However, oncology and immunology remain less developed than HIV.
• Negative Sentiment: Future Biktarvy pricing risk: Medicare price controls are expected to reduce Biktarvy’s price by about 38% beginning in 2028, potentially cutting annual revenue by approximately $1.5 billion. Analysts also caution that some Q3 HIV growth reflected inventory and channel effects that may not persist. Biktarvy Medicare pricing risk

About Gilead Sciences

Gilead Sciences, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines for serious and life-threatening diseases. The company is best known for its HIV treatments, including Biktarvy, Descovy, Genvoya and Truvada, as well as therapies for chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Its portfolio also includes Veklury (remdesivir), an antiviral treatment for COVID-19.

Gilead has expanded into oncology and cell therapy through products such as Trodelvy and the CAR T-cell therapies Yescarta and Tecartus, which are developed and marketed through its Kite subsidiary.

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