Venturi Wealth Management LLC Buys 1,165 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 78.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,658 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,165 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 118.5% in the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 284 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 101.9% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. DZ Bank raised Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.08.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $109.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $137.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 297.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.07 and a 1 year high of $111.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $95.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.63.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 31.63% and a net margin of 1.67%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 832.43%.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $815,198.80. This trade represents a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total value of $23,064,310.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 138,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,126.44. This represents a 64.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 713,000 shares of company stock valued at $67,945,181 in the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.