Gilead Sciences, Inc. $GILD Shares Purchased by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD - Free Report) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 241,385 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,133 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $29,628,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 319.0% during the third quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 21,394 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $2,375,000 after purchasing an additional 16,288 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 52.1% during the third quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 78,494 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $8,713,000 after purchasing an additional 26,882 shares in the last quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 249.1% during the third quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 10,045 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,115,000 after purchasing an additional 7,168 shares in the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.1% during the third quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 1,415,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $157,139,000 after purchasing an additional 42,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TriaGen Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences during the third quarter valued at $1,274,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GILD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their target price on Gilead Sciences from $129.00 to $161.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $128.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Barclays assumed coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, February 20th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $155.00 price objective on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $159.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Twenty-four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $157.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.96, for a total transaction of $422,880.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 128,779 shares of the company's stock, valued at $18,152,687.84. The trade was a 2.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.96, for a total value of $422,880.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 176,191 shares in the company, valued at $24,835,883.36. The trade was a 1.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 178,640 shares of company stock valued at $26,584,250 over the last ninety days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $132.69 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $164.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.32. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12 month low of $95.29 and a 12 month high of $157.29. The business's 50-day moving average is $140.49 and its 200 day moving average is $132.55.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.68 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 28.90%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.90 earnings per share. Gilead Sciences has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.450-8.850 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences's previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Gilead Sciences's payout ratio is presently 48.45%.

Gilead Sciences Profile

Gilead Sciences, Inc, founded in 1987 and headquartered in Foster City, California, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of medicines in areas of high unmet medical need. The company initially built its reputation in antiviral therapies and has since expanded into oncology, cell therapy and inflammatory diseases. Gilead operates a global research and commercial organization, conducting clinical development and selling medicines in markets around the world.

Gilead's product portfolio is anchored by antiviral therapies for HIV and viral hepatitis.

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