Gilead Sciences, Inc. $GILD Stock Bought by M&G PLC

M&G PLC lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 108.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 163,341 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 84,814 shares during the quarter. M&G PLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $24,338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GILD. Leuthold Group LLC increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 9.8% during the third quarter. Leuthold Group LLC now owns 58,247 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,682,000 after purchasing an additional 5,216 shares in the last quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 460 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,297,000. Griffith & Werner Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Griffith & Werner Inc. now owns 16,450 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,452,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $205,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In related news, Director Anthony Welters sold 18,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.62, for a total value of $2,675,160.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,894 shares in the company, valued at $1,916,306.28. This trade represents a 58.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Daniel O’Day sold 102,619 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.16, for a total transaction of $17,974,744.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 551,683 shares in the company, valued at $96,632,794.28. This represents a 15.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 242,709 shares of company stock worth $39,503,427 over the last quarter. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 1.5%

Gilead Sciences stock opened at $169.32 on Tuesday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a twelve month low of $116.88 and a twelve month high of $176.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $153.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $141.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $210.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -53.58 and a beta of 0.35.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.19 by $0.36. The business had revenue of $8.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.81 billion. Gilead Sciences had a negative return on equity of 1.85% and a negative net margin of 12.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.47 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post -1.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 15th. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -103.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $184.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $126.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.15.

Gilead Sciences Profile

Gilead Sciences, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes medicines for serious diseases. Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Foster City, California, the company focuses on antiviral therapies, including treatments and preventive medicines for HIV and medicines for viral hepatitis. Its products include Biktarvy for HIV and Epclusa for hepatitis C.

Gilead also develops medicines in areas such as oncology and inflammatory diseases. Its portfolio includes Veklury (remdesivir), an antiviral medicine used to treat COVID-19.