Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Grows Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 3.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,263 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $693,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,328,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 0.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $851,743,000 after purchasing an additional 93,068 shares in the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the third quarter worth $830,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 13.1% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 286,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $19,630,000 after buying an additional 33,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 127.6% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 213,901 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $15,668,000 after buying an additional 119,909 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GILD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $75.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total value of $2,341,485.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 99,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,113,308.50. This represents a 20.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at $6,545,480.06. The trade was a 27.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,947 shares of company stock worth $4,968,674 in the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $92.11 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,029.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.07 and a 52 week high of $98.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $86.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.69.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The firm had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. Gilead Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3,422.22%.

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.