Advocate Group LLC Increases Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Advocate Group LLC increased its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 79,445 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 751 shares during the quarter. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $7,338,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 101.9% in the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of GILD opened at $93.07 on Friday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $98.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $91.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.86. The stock has a market cap of $115.99 billion, a PE ratio of 1,034.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.18.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The firm had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. Gilead Sciences’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3,422.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Gilead Sciences from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $87.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.96.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.35, for a total transaction of $228,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 129,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,863,898.55. This trade represents a 1.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total transaction of $2,341,485.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 99,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,113,308.50. This trade represents a 20.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 456,234 shares of company stock valued at $42,130,461. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Gilead Sciences 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.