Stifel analyst Adam Walsh raised his price target on Galapagos (GLPG) to $188 from $121 after the company announced a 10-year global research and development collaboration with Gilead (GILD), calling the collaboration "a win-win to both companies." The deal, which he thinks will keep Gilead and likely other buyers from acquiring Galapagos in the next 10 years, gives the latter a deep cash position and support to expand and accelerate its research and clinical programs while it is able to maintain its "unique culture, R&D platform and proven leadership," according to Walsh, who keeps a Buy rating on Galapagos shares.

Cantor Fitzgerald lowered the firm's price target on Gilead to $75 from $78 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. The firm, which made slight adjustments to all of its large-cap biotechnology models ahead of Q1 earnings season for the group, lowered its target for Gilead given slower expected HIV growth. The "usual seasonal headwinds that typically make this one of the weaker quarters for the industry," the analyst added in the preview note.