Wedmont Private Capital Has $1.21 Million Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Wedmont Private Capital grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 41.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,481 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,931 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bellevue Group AG increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 18.2% in the third quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 46,027 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,859,000 after purchasing an additional 7,093 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 149.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 81,620 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,843,000 after acquiring an additional 48,910 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $851,743,000 after acquiring an additional 93,068 shares during the period. IRON Financial LLC bought a new position in Gilead Sciences during the third quarter worth $830,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 12.9% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 323,011 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,081,000 after purchasing an additional 36,895 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on GILD shares. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $84.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.96.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD opened at $89.94 on Tuesday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.07 and a 1 year high of $98.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $91.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.54. The firm has a market cap of $112.09 billion, a PE ratio of 999.33, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.18.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The company’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 3,422.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.96, for a total transaction of $781,660.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 132,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,173,021.08. This represents a 6.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total value of $620,355.32. Following the sale, the director now owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $815,198.80. This represents a 43.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 453,734 shares of company stock worth $41,902,086 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.