Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Shares Acquired by ARGA Investment Management LP

ARGA Investment Management LP grew its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 635,058 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,069 shares during the quarter. Gilead Sciences makes up 1.8% of ARGA Investment Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. ARGA Investment Management LP’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $51,446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GILD. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 231,819 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $18,780,000 after buying an additional 10,577 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 23,497 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,903,000 after buying an additional 2,127 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,316,128 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $109,870,000 after buying an additional 80,872 shares during the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth $874,000. Finally, Advisor OS LLC grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Advisor OS LLC now owns 3,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on GILD. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Friday, April 19th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.69.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD stock traded up $0.85 on Thursday, hitting $67.86. 4,754,828 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,361,521. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $84.54 billion, a PE ratio of 186.19, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.22. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1-year low of $64.33 and a 1-year high of $87.86. The company’s fifty day moving average is $69.50 and its 200 day moving average is $75.13.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.49) by $0.17. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 24.34% and a net margin of 1.76%. The business had revenue of $6.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 855.56%.

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.