Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Shares Bought by Ballentine Partners LLC

Ballentine Partners LLC increased its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 60.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 15,135 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,702 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GILD. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 324.8% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 18,002,214 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,070,232,000 after purchasing an additional 13,764,169 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter worth about $1,115,186,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 96,759.8% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,111,194 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $868,046,000 after acquiring an additional 10,100,755 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 70.6% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 15,492,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $921,006,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 2,915,141 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GILD shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.36.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD stock opened at $69.55 on Friday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $69.39 and a one year high of $87.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $73.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $77.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.19.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.04). Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. The company had revenue of $7.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is currently 68.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 8,242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.23, for a total transaction of $702,465.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 82,729 shares in the company, valued at $7,050,992.67. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 8,242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.23, for a total transaction of $702,465.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 82,729 shares in the company, valued at $7,050,992.67. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.78, for a total transaction of $428,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 101,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,709,586.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,242 shares of company stock worth $1,423,646 over the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.