Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD - Free Report) by 45.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,404 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after buying an additional 4,468 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.'s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,330,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. Bellevue Group AG increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 18.2% during the third quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 46,027 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $3,859,000 after acquiring an additional 7,093 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 149.5% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 81,620 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $6,843,000 after buying an additional 48,910 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 25,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $2,344,000 after buying an additional 3,627 shares in the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC bought a new position in Gilead Sciences in the third quarter worth approximately $830,000. Finally, Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 387,492 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $35,793,000 after purchasing an additional 9,791 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DZ Bank raised Gilead Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $108.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Daiwa America raised shares of Gilead Sciences to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $102.08.
View Our Latest Analysis on GILD
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.09, for a total value of $260,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 169,061 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,597,559.49. This trade represents a 1.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total value of $15,094,275.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 80,801 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,427,227.92. This represents a 67.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 713,000 shares of company stock valued at $67,945,181. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Gilead Sciences Price Performance
Shares of GILD traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $109.95. The stock had a trading volume of 9,729,048 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,379,648. The company's fifty day moving average is $95.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $88.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.20. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.07 and a 52 week high of $111.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $137.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 297.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.18.
Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 31.63%. On average, analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.
Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences's previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences's dividend payout ratio is presently 832.43%.
About Gilead Sciences
(
Free Report)
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.
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