Westend Capital Management LLC Acquires 57,632 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Westend Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 71.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 138,642 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,632 shares during the quarter. Gilead Sciences makes up 3.8% of Westend Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Westend Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $12,806,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,044,795,000 after acquiring an additional 841,776 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,900,921,000 after buying an additional 11,665,593 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 79.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after buying an additional 14,680,161 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,540,870 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,302,119,000 after buying an additional 574,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $851,743,000 after acquiring an additional 93,068 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.35, for a total value of $228,375.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,863,898.55. This trade represents a 1.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total value of $15,094,275.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 80,801 shares in the company, valued at $7,427,227.92. This represents a 67.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 456,234 shares of company stock worth $42,130,461 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Daiwa America raised shares of Gilead Sciences to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.96.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ GILD opened at $91.84 on Friday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1-year low of $62.07 and a 1-year high of $98.90. The company has a market cap of $114.46 billion, a PE ratio of 1,020.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.81.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. Gilead Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 3,422.22%.

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.