D Orazio & Associates Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

D Orazio & Associates Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 30.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,332 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 1,250 shares during the period. D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Redwood Financial Network Corp raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 2,530 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $234,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,580 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Peak Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,040 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 3,880 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $435,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CFO4Life Group LLC lifted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 4,265 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on GILD shares. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $132.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $120.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.55.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, CEO Daniel Patrick O’day sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.42, for a total transaction of $1,104,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 620,268 shares in the company, valued at $68,489,992.56. This represents a 1.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.40, for a total value of $266,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 168,174 shares in the company, valued at $17,893,713.60. This represents a 1.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 43,000 shares of company stock worth $4,630,310. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $109.98 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $105.67 and a 200 day moving average of $102.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 297.24, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.29. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.69 and a fifty-two week high of $119.96.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 31.63% and a net margin of 1.67%. The company’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($1.32) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.53%.

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.