Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) was upgraded by stock analysts at Jefferies Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $93.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $81.19. Jefferies Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 8.82% from the stock’s previous close. Jefferies Group also issued estimates for Gilead Sciences’ Q1 2018 earnings at $1.55 EPS, Q2 2018 earnings at $1.46 EPS, Q3 2018 earnings at $1.38 EPS, Q4 2018 earnings at $1.31 EPS and FY2018 earnings at $5.71 EPS.
GILD has been the topic of several other research reports. Berenberg Bank set a $96.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. set a $85.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 25th. Credit Suisse Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Thursday, December 7th. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 27th. Finally, Vetr raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $91.98 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, October 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. The company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $85.53.
Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ GILD) traded up $4.27 on Friday, reaching $85.46. 14,604,042 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,930,000. The company has a quick ratio of 3.56, a current ratio of 3.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The company has a market cap of $117,470.00, a PE ratio of 9.72, a P/E/G ratio of -1.79 and a beta of 1.13. Gilead Sciences has a 1-year low of $63.76 and a 1-year high of $86.27.
In other Gilead Sciences news, EVP Gregg H. Alton sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.82, for a total value of $1,122,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 77,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,788,299.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP James R. Meyers sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.24, for a total value of $8,024,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,715 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,241,851.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 591,666 shares of company stock valued at $44,466,567 over the last 90 days. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 104,906,494 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,425,281,000 after acquiring an additional 1,937,031 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 92,841,960 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,571,355,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148,697 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 30,881,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,185,784,000 after acquiring an additional 310,607 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,037,303 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,630,581,000 after acquiring an additional 258,005 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 16,430,476 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,162,949,000 after acquiring an additional 116,780 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.06% of the company’s stock.
Gilead Sciences Company Profile
Gilead Sciences, Inc is a research-based biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines in areas of unmet medical need. The Company’s portfolio of products and pipeline of investigational drugs includes treatments for Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), liver diseases, cancer, inflammatory and respiratory diseases and cardiovascular conditions.
