LifePlan Financial LLC Takes Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

LifePlan Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,552 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Flputnam Investment Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 6,070 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $492,000 after purchasing an additional 826 shares in the last quarter. Aurora Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter worth $200,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 535,557 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $43,385,000 after buying an additional 43,630 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,611,000. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 27,331 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD traded down $0.36 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $67.39. The stock had a trading volume of 814,701 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,288,507. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $72.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.78. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $67.18 and a fifty-two week high of $87.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.06, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.04). Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. The firm had revenue of $7.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.57%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 68.44%.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences 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 sale, the insider now owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GILD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price 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 assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.36.

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.