Kestra Investment Management LLC Makes New $210,000 Investment in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,508 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,780,329,000 after purchasing an additional 14,680,161 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $851,743,000 after buying an additional 93,068 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,412,413 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $714,421,000 after acquiring an additional 268,208 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,889,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $541,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,752,975 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $650,009,000 after purchasing an additional 224,960 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on GILD shares. Evercore ISI upgraded Gilead Sciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Mizuho increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.41.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

GILD opened at $94.02 on Tuesday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $98.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $88.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.84. The company has a market cap of $117.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,044.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3,422.22%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total transaction of $15,094,275.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 80,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,427,227.92. The trade was a 67.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total value of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,545,480.06. This represents a 27.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 227,946 shares of company stock worth $20,683,305 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.