First Western Trust Bank Increases Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

First Western Trust Bank increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 56,093 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 993 shares during the quarter. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $5,181,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,789,254,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 50.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,900,921,000 after buying an additional 11,665,593 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 5,653,075 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth about $207,340,000. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 148.4% during the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 1,817,880 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $167,209,000 after acquiring an additional 1,085,987 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Gilead Sciences from $115.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $105.12.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 142,180 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.22, for a total value of $13,822,739.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,626,253.06. This represents a 52.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 302,785 shares of company stock valued at $30,503,250 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $112.39 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $139.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 303.76, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.32. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.07 and a 1 year high of $119.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $107.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.50.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 854.05%.

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.