Truist Financial Upgrades Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) to "Buy"

Key Points

• Gilead Sciences received an upgrade from Truist Financial, changing its rating from "hold" to "buy" with a new price target of $127.00, indicating a potential upside of 15.16% from its last close.
• The company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the latest quarter, exceeding the consensus estimate of $1.96, with a net margin of 20.76% and revenue of $7.08 billion.
• Currently, Gilead has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with 16 out of 26 recommending a buy or strong buy rating.

Truist Financial upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Friday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $127.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company's stock, up from their previous price objective of $108.00.

GILD has been the topic of several other reports. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $133.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $132.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $114.82.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

GILD stock traded down $1.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $119.31. The company had a trading volume of 2,783,365 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,383,729. The company has a market capitalization of $148.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.33. Gilead Sciences has a 12-month low of $72.67 and a 12-month high of $121.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $111.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $107.83.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.95 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 21.86% and a return on equity of 50.99%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.01 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. Gilead Sciences's dividend payout ratio is currently 62.95%.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other news, CEO Daniel Patrick O'day sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.45, for a total value of $1,104,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 615,725 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $68,006,826.25. This represents a 1.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.03, for a total transaction of $277,575.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 162,610 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,054,588.30. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 82,000 shares of company stock valued at $8,984,175 over the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GILD. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 314.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,703,103 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,647,484,000 after acquiring an additional 11,156,382 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the first quarter valued at approximately $620,415,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 13,891.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,550,298 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $285,761,000 after acquiring an additional 2,532,070 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,915,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,377,707,000 after buying an additional 2,458,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the second quarter worth $238,083,000. 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.