White Pine Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

White Pine Capital LLC bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,430 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GILD. FMR LLC increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after buying an additional 14,680,161 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 723.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,434,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $594,370,000 after purchasing an additional 5,653,075 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 350.1% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,305,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $193,274,000 after acquiring an additional 1,793,145 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 8,238.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,642,504 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $137,708,000 after buying an additional 1,622,806 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total transaction of $15,094,275.12. Following the sale, the insider now owns 80,801 shares in the company, valued at $7,427,227.92. This represents a 67.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 137,676 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.22, for a total value of $14,073,240.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 171,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,502,415.06. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 710,500 shares of company stock worth $67,684,956. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.33.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of GILD opened at $105.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.26. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $106.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $93.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.24. The company has a market capitalization of $132.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,177.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a boost 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 2.98%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3,422.22%.

About Gilead Sciences

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.