Merit Financial Group LLC Boosts Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 40.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,707 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 5,635 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,820,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,044,795,000 after buying an additional 841,776 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after purchasing an additional 14,680,161 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,540,870 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,302,119,000 after purchasing an additional 574,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings 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 valued at $851,743,000 after purchasing an additional 93,068 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $815,198.80. The trade was a 43.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 456,234 shares of company stock valued at $42,130,461. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.96.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.2 %

GILD stock opened at $91.84 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.07 and a twelve month high of $98.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,020.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.18. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.20.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3,422.22%.

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.