Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Acquires 140,095 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 27.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 648,386 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 140,095 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $59,891,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,580 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC now owns 3,128 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Berkshire Bank lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 3,398 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 4,265 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howe & Rusling Inc. lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 4,704 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.09, for a total value of $260,225.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 169,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,597,559.49. This represents a 1.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 160,605 shares of company stock valued at $16,718,136 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GILD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. DZ Bank upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $116.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $110.55.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of GILD stock opened at $96.86 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $120.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 261.78, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $107.23 and its 200 day moving average is $99.39. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.07 and a twelve month high of $119.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 31.63% and a net margin of 1.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.32) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 66.53%.

Gilead Sciences Profile

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.