Atom Investors LP Makes New $1.09 Million Investment in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Atom Investors LP purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 12,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,085,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GILD. FMR LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,780,329,000 after acquiring an additional 14,680,161 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $851,743,000 after buying an additional 93,068 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $714,421,000 after acquiring an additional 268,208 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,889,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $541,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake 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. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GILD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $74.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total transaction of $2,341,485.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 99,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,113,308.50. The trade was a 20.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,545,480.06. This trade represents a 27.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 476,591 shares of company stock worth $43,747,615. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $92.49 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $115.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,027.67, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $88.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.20. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.07 and a 1 year high of $98.90.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3,422.22%.

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.