Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Shares Bought by Sunbelt Securities Inc.

Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 26.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,603 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 2,426 shares during the quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GILD. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at $1,301,624,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 78.8% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 7,632,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $618,268,000 after buying an additional 3,362,505 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,630,134 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,509,227,000 after buying an additional 2,350,550 shares during the period. abrdn plc raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 89.0% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 3,764,107 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $304,930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772,887 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,657,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,832,824,000 after acquiring an additional 1,743,418 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Maxim Group lowered their price target on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.47.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Gilead Sciences stock opened at $68.83 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.75. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.07 and a 12 month high of $87.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.75 billion, a PE ratio of 191.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.20.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its 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. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 24.34%. The company had revenue of $6.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 14th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 855.56%.

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.