Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 160.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 94,827 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 58,485 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $10,625,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Core Alternative Capital lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 370.8% in the first quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 306 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 538.6% in the first quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 364 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 28,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total transaction of $3,010,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 121,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,026,263.04. This represents a 18.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.74, for a total value of $548,700.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 8,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $978,880.80. This represents a 35.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 79,500 shares of company stock worth $8,734,625. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on GILD. Truist Financial raised Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $108.00 to $127.00 in a report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Gilead Sciences in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.82.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

GILD stock opened at $118.37 on Friday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.89 and a 1 year high of $121.83. The firm has a market cap of $146.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.58, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $111.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $108.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.05. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 50.99% and a net margin of 21.86%. The company had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.01 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.95%.

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.