Vest Financial LLC Makes New $438,000 Investment in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Vest Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,227 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $438,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 114,732,575 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,404,161,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910,147 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 84,497,404 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,189,435,000 after buying an additional 1,133,281 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.7% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 61,246,366 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,486,296,000 after acquiring an additional 1,589,240 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 0.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $851,743,000 after acquiring an additional 93,068 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,412,413 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $714,421,000 after acquiring an additional 268,208 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GILD shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Gilead Sciences from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $82.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.85.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of GILD stock opened at $86.29 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 239.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $87.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $6.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.64 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 3.79% and a return on equity of 29.34%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 855.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 100,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,398,843.87. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 100,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,398,843.87. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,545,480.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 36,847 shares of company stock valued at $3,033,340. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.