GWN Securities Inc. Invests $285,000 in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

GWN Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,076 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $285,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bellevue Group AG increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 18.2% in the third quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 46,027 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,859,000 after acquiring an additional 7,093 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 149.5% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 81,620 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,843,000 after acquiring an additional 48,910 shares during the period. McAdam LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 25,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,627 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 387,492 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $35,793,000 after buying an additional 9,791 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 142,167 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $13,132,000 after buying an additional 5,382 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of GILD opened at $112.26 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $139.80 billion, a PE ratio of 303.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.16. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1-year low of $62.07 and a 1-year high of $119.96.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 31.63%. As a group, analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 854.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 17,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.17, for a total transaction of $2,118,669.93. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 169,061 shares in the company, valued at $19,977,938.37. The trade was a 9.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold 302,785 shares of company stock worth $30,503,250 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on GILD. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. DZ Bank raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.52.

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.