Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 180,641 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,475 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $14,633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Steph & Co. raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 7,548 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter worth about $208,000. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth about $420,000. Finally, HealthInvest Partners AB purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $8,018,000. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD stock opened at $66.84 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $83.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 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 company’s 50-day moving average is $72.25 and its 200 day moving average is $76.66. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $66.75 and a one year high of $87.86.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $7.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.10 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.67 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.61%. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is presently 68.44%.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GILD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.71.

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.