Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Shares Purchased by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 73.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,392 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,403 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,164,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter worth $1,789,254,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,724,306,000 after buying an additional 7,157,113 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 13,891.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,550,298 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $285,761,000 after buying an additional 2,532,070 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,915,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,377,707,000 after buying an additional 2,458,954 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $207,340,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GILD shares. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.55.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 1.8%

Gilead Sciences stock opened at $112.46 on Friday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.69 and a 12-month high of $119.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.89 billion, a PE ratio of 303.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $105.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.56.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.04. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 31.63% and a net margin of 1.67%. The firm had revenue of $6.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.32) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is currently 66.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.40, for a total transaction of $266,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 168,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,893,713.60. This trade represents a 1.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 28,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total value of $3,010,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 121,152 shares in the company, valued at $13,026,263.04. This represents a 18.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 60,929 shares of company stock worth $6,748,980. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gilead Sciences Profile

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.