Wesbanco Bank Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. lessened its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,787 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 739 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,828,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,044,795,000 after purchasing an additional 841,776 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 50.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,900,921,000 after acquiring an additional 11,665,593 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,780,329,000 after acquiring an additional 14,680,161 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,540,870 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,302,119,000 after acquiring an additional 574,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $851,743,000 after purchasing an additional 93,068 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $92.92 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $115.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,032.44, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $98.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3,422.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GILD shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup assumed coverage on Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Gilead Sciences from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $113.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total transaction of $2,341,485.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 99,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,113,308.50. The trade was a 20.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $815,198.80. This trade represents a 43.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 456,234 shares of company stock worth $42,130,461. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Company 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.