HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Acquires New Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 17,818 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,443,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GILD. Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 18,318 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,486,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 8,862 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.3% during the third quarter. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLC now owns 1,501 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $112,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steph & Co. raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 7,548 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 29th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $83.69.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $63.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 175.42, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.08. 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 50 day moving average price of $65.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.13.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.49) by $0.17. The business had revenue of $6.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.36 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 24.34% and a net margin of 1.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 3.75 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.88%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 855.56%.

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.