Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Purchases 1,458 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 324,469 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 1,458 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $29,971,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 66,317 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,126,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 56,115 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,183,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 285.3% in the fourth quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $982,000 after acquiring an additional 7,868 shares during the period. First County Bank CT grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. First County Bank CT now owns 23,760 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,195,000 after acquiring an additional 680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spartan Planning & Wealth Management acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at $230,000. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Gilead Sciences from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $87.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.96.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ GILD opened at $89.88 on Friday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.07 and a 12-month high of $98.90. The company has a market cap of $112.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 998.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.29.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. Gilead Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is 3,422.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gilead Sciences news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $815,198.80. The trade was a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 138,919 shares in the company, valued at $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 sold a total of 453,734 shares of company stock worth $41,902,086 over the last three months. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Gilead Sciences Company 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.