Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) Given New $123.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) had its price objective hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $113.00 to $123.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on GILD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.04.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 7.5 %

GILD opened at $103.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $128.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,147.89, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $104.71. The business’s fifty day moving average is $93.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.12.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. Analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3,422.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.35, for a total value of $228,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,863,898.55. This represents a 1.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total value of $15,094,275.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 80,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,427,227.92. This represents a 67.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 572,824 shares of company stock valued at $53,611,715 over the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 400,819 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $33,645,000 after purchasing an additional 51,390 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 7.7% in the third quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,615 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $303,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the third quarter valued at approximately $213,000. CX Institutional lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 34.2% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 60,987 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,113,000 after buying an additional 15,545 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 20,526 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,721,000 after acquiring an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.