Federated Hermes Inc. Grows Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,787,355 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 175,925 shares during the period. Gilead Sciences makes up 0.8% of Federated Hermes Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.30% of Gilead Sciences worth $306,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. HF Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,827 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 100,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 180,641 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,633,000 after purchasing an additional 10,475 shares during the period. Steph & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 7,548 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GILD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Truist Financial downgraded Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.71.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD stock traded down $0.94 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $65.99. 2,294,029 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,251,159. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.90 and a 12-month high of $87.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.27. The company has a market cap of $82.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $72.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.66.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.04). Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 38.85%. The company had revenue of $7.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.67 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.44%.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.18, for a total value of $146,360.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 100,936 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,386,496.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.