West Branch Capital LLC Has $461,000 Stock Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

West Branch Capital LLC lessened its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 17.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,113 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 855 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $461,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,789,254,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,724,306,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157,113 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 13,891.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,550,298 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $285,761,000 after acquiring an additional 2,532,070 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,915,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,377,707,000 after acquiring an additional 2,458,954 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $207,340,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on GILD. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $132.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Gilead Sciences in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other news, CEO Daniel Patrick O’day sold 10,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.42, for a total value of $1,104,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 620,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $68,489,992.56. The trade was a 1.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.40, for a total value of $266,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 168,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,893,713.60. This trade represents a 1.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 43,000 shares of company stock worth $4,630,310 over the last ninety days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $109.98 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 297.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.29. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.69 and a 12 month high of $119.96.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $6.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 31.63% and a net margin of 1.67%. The business’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.32) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is presently 66.53%.

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.