Empowered Funds LLC Raises Stock Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 55.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 219,579 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 78,657 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $20,283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 118.5% during the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 284 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 101.9% during the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GILD. Leerink Partners raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $98.39.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total transaction of $15,094,275.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 80,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,427,227.92. The trade was a 67.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at $815,198.80. This trade represents a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 572,824 shares of company stock valued at $53,611,715 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $96.04 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,067.11, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.65. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.07 and a twelve month high of $100.51.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.