Morgens Waterfall Vintiadis & Co. Inc. Acquires Shares of 40,000 Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Morgens Waterfall Vintiadis & Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 40,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,695,000. Gilead Sciences makes up about 2.8% of Morgens Waterfall Vintiadis & Co. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,724,306,000 after purchasing an additional 7,157,113 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,659,007 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,293,822,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,331 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,289,917 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,608,337,000 after buying an additional 749,047 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,789,254,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,915,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,377,707,000 after purchasing an additional 2,458,954 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GILD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $132.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.55.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

GILD opened at $101.43 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.07 and a 12-month high of $119.96. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $106.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $126.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 274.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.26.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 31.63% and a net margin of 1.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.32) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 66.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.09, for a total transaction of $260,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 169,061 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,597,559.49. This trade represents a 1.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 22,929 shares of company stock worth $2,644,895 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Profile

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.