Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $14.12 Million Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 174,300 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,120,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,856 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 11,894 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $891,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 18,318 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,486,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 8,862 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GILD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays dropped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Truist Financial downgraded Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $85.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 5,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.78, for a total transaction of $428,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 101,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,709,586.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.78, for a total value of $428,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 101,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,709,586.52. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,026,339.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,000 shares of company stock worth $721,180 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 0.8 %

Gilead Sciences stock traded down $0.58 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $68.07. The stock had a trading volume of 5,691,760 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,553,057. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a twelve month low of $67.62 and a twelve month high of $87.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.75 billion, a PE ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.43. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.82.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $7.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.10 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.67 EPS. Analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.08 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.52%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is currently 68.44%.

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.