Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Acquires 263,264 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 451.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 321,621 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 263,264 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $26,055,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GILD. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 14,547 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,390 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 46.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 202,220 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $15,154,000 after buying an additional 64,569 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 10,719 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $803,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 13.5% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,325,094 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $174,242,000 after buying an additional 276,676 shares during the period. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 107,544 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $8,059,000 after buying an additional 7,920 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $145,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on GILD. Truist Financial cut Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. HSBC raised Gilead Sciences from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays decreased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.69.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 0.3 %

GILD stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $65.33. 5,566,474 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,454,676. The company has a market cap of $81.34 billion, a PE ratio of 181.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.22. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $70.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.01. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $64.63 and a one year high of $87.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.49) by $0.17. The company had revenue of $6.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.36 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 24.34% and a net margin of 1.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.71%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 855.56%.

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.