Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Shares Acquired by Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. boosted its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 234,572 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,746 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $19,667,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 54,122 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,538,000 after buying an additional 6,400 shares during the last quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 4.0% during the third quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 116,113 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,735,000 after acquiring an additional 4,425 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 26.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 13,424 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,125,000 after acquiring an additional 2,807 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 9.6% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 848,235 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $71,116,000 after acquiring an additional 74,063 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acuta Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the third quarter worth $1,635,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on GILD shares. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Barclays raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.41.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:GILD traded up $1.06 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $92.41. 5,527,206 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,078,652. The company has a market capitalization of $115.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,026.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.17. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.07 and a 12 month high of $98.90. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $77.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released 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 return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3,422.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 100,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,398,843.87. The trade was a 1.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the director now directly 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 63,735 shares of company stock worth $5,589,030. Corporate insiders own 0.29% 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.