Great West Life Assurance Co. Can Buys 45,794 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Great West Life Assurance Co. Can increased its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 2.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,618,868 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,794 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can owned about 0.13% of Gilead Sciences worth $134,551,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Holderness Investments Co. raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 11,302 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 46.5% during the 1st quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 8,852 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $734,000 after purchasing an additional 2,808 shares during the last quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Walled Lake Planning & Wealth Management LLC now owns 84,560 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,880 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 216,843 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $17,991,000 after acquiring an additional 15,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stamos Capital Partners L.P. raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 17.9% in the 1st quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. now owns 37,420 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,105,000 after acquiring an additional 5,670 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.33% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 1,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.90, for a total transaction of $114,196.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,261,013.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 1,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.90, for a total transaction of $114,196.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,402 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,261,013.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 5,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $400,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 107,587 shares in the company, valued at $8,606,960. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Gilead Sciences stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $74.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,201,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,750,956. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $61.44 and a 52 week high of $89.74. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $79.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($0.30). Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 37.53% and a net margin of 20.03%. The company had revenue of $6.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.58 earnings per share. Gilead Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.97%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on GILD. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $91.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.57.

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, and Atripla products for the treatment of HIV/AIDS; Veklury, an injection for intravenous use, for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019; and Epclusa, Harvoni, Vosevi, Vemlidy, and Viread for the treatment of viral hepatitis.