Wealth Quarterback LLC Acquires New Shares in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Wealth Quarterback LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,044,795,000 after acquiring an additional 841,776 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,900,921,000 after buying an additional 11,665,593 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after purchasing an additional 14,680,161 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,540,870 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,302,119,000 after acquiring an additional 574,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,752,975 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $650,009,000 after buying an additional 224,960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on GILD. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.33.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $104.08 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $93.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.10. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $106.69. The company has a market cap of $129.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,156.44, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. Analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is presently 3,422.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total transaction of $23,064,310.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 138,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,126.44. This represents a 64.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, 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 710,500 shares of company stock valued at $67,684,956 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Company 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.