Callahan Advisors LLC Has $604,000 Stock Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Callahan Advisors LLC grew its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 109.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,540 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,415 shares during the quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $604,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GILD. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 400,819 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $33,645,000 after purchasing an additional 51,390 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 219,045 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $18,365,000 after buying an additional 30,451 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,047,609 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $171,672,000 after buying an additional 189,622 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 38.4% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 6,520 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $547,000 after buying an additional 1,808 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GILD has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.35, for a total transaction of $228,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,863,898.55. This trade represents a 1.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $815,198.80. This represents a 43.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 710,500 shares of company stock worth $67,684,956. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $105.25 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $131.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,169.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.09. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $106.69.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.