Great Lakes Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. $GILD

Key Points

• Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its stake in Gilead Sciences, acquiring an additional 46,844 shares, bringing their total to over 1 million shares, which constitutes 1.0% of their investment portfolio.
• Gilead Sciences reported earnings of $2.01 per share, surpassing analyst expectations, with revenue also exceeding projections at $7.08 billion for the quarter.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.79 per share, with a 2.7% annualized dividend yield, scheduled to be paid on September 29th.

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD - Free Report) by 4.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,028,036 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after purchasing an additional 46,844 shares during the quarter. Gilead Sciences accounts for approximately 1.0% of Great Lakes Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned about 0.08% of Gilead Sciences worth $114,889,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2,837.5% during the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 235 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the first quarter worth about $29,000. Colonial Trust Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 304.3% during the first quarter. Colonial Trust Advisors now owns 283 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Core Alternative Capital grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 370.8% during the first quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 306 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GILD shares. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Gilead Sciences from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $128.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Needham & Company LLC upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $133.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Gilead Sciences to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $115.39.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total transaction of $296,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 160,110 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,977,838.30. The trade was a 1.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Daniel Patrick O'day sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.94, for a total value of $1,139,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 605,725 shares in the company, valued at $69,016,306.50. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 82,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,371,330 over the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 2.8%

Gilead Sciences stock traded down $3.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $114.55. The company had a trading volume of 6,466,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,830,447. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $114.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.09. The firm has a market cap of $142.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.36. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12-month low of $81.57 and a 12-month high of $121.83.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.05. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 50.99% and a net margin of 21.86%.The firm had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.01 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Gilead Sciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.950-8.250 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Gilead Sciences's payout ratio is 62.95%.

Gilead Sciences Company 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.