Kovack Advisors Inc. Has $757,000 Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Kovack Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 1.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,334 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 161 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth $1,301,624,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 78.8% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,632,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $618,268,000 after buying an additional 3,362,505 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,630,134 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,509,227,000 after buying an additional 2,350,550 shares during the period. abrdn plc raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 89.0% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 3,764,107 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $304,930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,657,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,832,824,000 after acquiring an additional 1,743,418 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on GILD. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, April 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.47.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ GILD traded down $1.81 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $66.59. 3,995,673 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,998,495. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.08. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $87.86. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $66.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.33. The company has a market cap of $82.96 billion, a PE ratio of 184.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.18.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.49) by $0.17. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 24.34%. The business had revenue of $6.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.37 EPS. Gilead Sciences’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.63%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 855.56%.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.63, for a total value of $137,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,614,559.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.