Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Position Increased by Wealth Alliance

Wealth Alliance raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,687 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 396 shares during the quarter. Wealth Alliance’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $947,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 324.8% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 18,002,214 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,070,232,000 after acquiring an additional 13,764,169 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,115,186,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 96,759.8% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,111,194 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $868,046,000 after buying an additional 10,100,755 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 70.6% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 15,492,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $921,006,000 after buying an additional 6,410,047 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 179.0% during the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,543,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $340,526,000 after purchasing an additional 2,915,141 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial lowered shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $67.31 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.81 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.19. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.73. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1 year low of $67.18 and a 1 year high of $87.86.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $7.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.10 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.67 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.06 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.58%. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.44%.

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.