Lafayette Investments Inc. Acquires 250 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Lafayette Investments Inc. raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,935 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 250 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at $210,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,787,355 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $306,814,000 after purchasing an additional 175,925 shares in the last quarter. Abundance Wealth Counselors acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,881,000. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,288,884 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $96,589,000 after purchasing an additional 515,191 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake 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 valued at $43,385,000 after purchasing an additional 43,630 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GILD shares. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.71.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of GILD stock traded up $0.27 on Friday, reaching $66.43. The company had a trading volume of 2,207,627 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,237,620. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market cap of $82.71 billion, a PE ratio of 14.77, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a 50-day moving average of $72.10 and a 200-day moving average of $76.58. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.90 and a 12 month high of $87.86.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $7.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.10 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 38.85%. The business’s revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.67 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.64%. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.