Blue Trust Inc. Grows Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. $GILD

Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 12.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,497 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GILD. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Activest Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2,837.5% during the 1st quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 235 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Colonial Trust Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 304.3% during the 1st quarter. Colonial Trust Advisors now owns 283 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Core Alternative Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 370.8% during the 1st quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 306 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GILD shares. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $128.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Daiwa America raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Gilead Sciences to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.08.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $117.18 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $145.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $114.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $110.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12 month low of $84.17 and a 12 month high of $121.83.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.96 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $7.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.95 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 21.86% and a return on equity of 50.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.01 earnings per share. Gilead Sciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.950-8.250 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 29th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is currently 62.95%.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 28,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total transaction of $3,318,840.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 114,168 shares in the company, valued at $13,532,333.04. The trade was a 19.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Daniel Patrick O’day sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.66, for a total transaction of $1,116,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 591,203 shares in the company, valued at $66,013,726.98. This represents a 1.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 77,000 shares of company stock worth $8,853,430 over the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.