Lafayette Investments Inc. Increases Stock Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,935 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the period. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Altshuler Shaham Ltd lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,856 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $159,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 1.1% in the third quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 11,894 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $891,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 18,318 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,486,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc. increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 8,862 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

GILD traded up $0.27 on Friday, hitting $66.43. 2,207,627 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,237,620. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.43. The business’s fifty day moving average is $72.10 and its 200 day moving average is $76.58. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.90 and a fifty-two week high of $87.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.19.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.04). Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. The company had revenue of $7.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.67 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.64%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is 68.44%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GILD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. 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 objective for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.