Payden & Rygel Investment Group Invests $196,000 in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Payden & Rygel Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,680 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GILD. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 114,732,575 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,404,161,000 after buying an additional 2,910,147 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 83,364,123 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,753,350,000 after buying an additional 1,642,736 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,657,126 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,832,824,000 after purchasing an additional 1,743,418 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,630,134 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,509,227,000 after purchasing an additional 2,350,550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,301,624,000. 83.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.63, for a total value of $137,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,614,559.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GILD shares. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $81.81.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ GILD traded up $3.01 on Thursday, hitting $76.51. The stock had a trading volume of 11,731,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,466,100. The company’s 50-day moving average is $67.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.23. The stock has a market cap of $95.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 212.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $87.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.49) by $0.17. The company had revenue of $6.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.36 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 24.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 3.72 earnings per share for the current year.

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.