Montecito Bank & Trust Invests $619,000 in Gilead Sciences, Inc. $GILD

Montecito Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 5,578 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $619,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Activest Wealth Management grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2,837.5% during the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 235 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 7,566.7% during the 2nd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 230 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Putney Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 53.4% in the 2nd quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC now owns 270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the second quarter valued at about $30,000. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GILD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. BMO Capital Markets set a $135.00 price target on Gilead Sciences in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $133.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $131.54.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $125.08, for a total transaction of $625,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,115,713.60. This represents a 35.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel Patrick O’day sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $1,265,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 571,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $72,280,027.62. The trade was a 1.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 136,257 shares of company stock valued at $16,723,492 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Gilead Sciences stock opened at $121.47 on Friday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $88.57 and a 52 week high of $128.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market cap of $150.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $122.21 and a 200-day moving average of $116.01.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.31. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 27.88% and a return on equity of 51.86%. The firm had revenue of $7.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.02 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. Gilead Sciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at 8.050-8.250 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 15th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.99%.

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.