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 research report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $127.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company's stock, up from their prior price objective of $108.00.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on GILD. Needham & Company LLC raised Gilead Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $133.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Gilead Sciences from $132.00 to $125.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Gilead Sciences from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $114.82.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

GILD stock traded up $9.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $119.41. The stock had a trading volume of 13,112,190 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,807,634. The stock has a market cap of $148.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.37. The company's 50 day moving average price is $110.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.53. Gilead Sciences has a 1-year low of $72.43 and a 1-year high of $121.38.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $7.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.95 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 21.86% and a return on equity of 51.45%. The company's revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.01 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Gilead Sciences news, CEO Daniel Patrick O'day sold 10,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.45, for a total transaction of $1,104,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 615,725 shares in the company, valued at $68,006,826.25. The trade was a 1.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.74, for a total transaction of $548,700.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $978,880.80. This represents a 35.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 82,000 shares of company stock valued at $8,984,175. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Gilead Sciences

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EPG Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.0% in the second quarter. EPG Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,627 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $513,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.9% during the second quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC now owns 3,285 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $364,000 after buying an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 53.4% in the 2nd quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC now owns 270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 2,530 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $234,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.5% in the second quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,499 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $721,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.