Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. Increases Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 80,495 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the period. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $6,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,909,619 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,267,207,000 after buying an additional 158,794 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,922,488 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,118,291,000 after purchasing an additional 504,475 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,046,652 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $408,829,000 after purchasing an additional 493,920 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,773,688 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $357,740,000 after purchasing an additional 531,314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 179.0% in the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,543,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $340,526,000 after purchasing an additional 2,915,141 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:GILD traded down $0.57 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $64.70. 2,021,575 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,345,926. 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.32. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1 year low of $64.69 and a 1 year high of $87.86. The company has a market cap of $80.56 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.19.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.49) by $0.17. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 38.85%. The firm had revenue of $6.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.36 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.2 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $145,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GILD shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective 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. HSBC upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Friday, April 19th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.57.

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.