Advantage Trust Co Acquires Shares of 800 Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 800 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 179.0% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,543,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $340,526,000 after buying an additional 2,915,141 shares during the period. abrdn plc increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 89.0% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 3,764,107 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $304,930,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772,887 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter worth $133,584,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter worth $63,971,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 18.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,534,839 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $339,841,000 after purchasing an additional 702,342 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on GILD. Truist Financial cut shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Mizuho dropped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Maxim Group cut their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.69.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:GILD traded down $0.34 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $64.58. 6,040,074 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,413,521. The firm has a market cap of $80.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 179.39, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.22. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.52. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.33 and a 52-week high of $87.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.49) by $0.17. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 24.34% and a net margin of 1.76%. The business had revenue of $6.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.36 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.77%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 855.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.