Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. $GILD

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 81.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 122,374 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 526,012 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $13,712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 1.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,470,825 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,162,606,000 after purchasing an additional 1,942,433 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 314.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,703,103 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,647,484,000 after purchasing an additional 11,156,382 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 12,234,672 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,130,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605,730 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,678,751 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $801,655,000 after purchasing an additional 2,005,863 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences during the first quarter worth approximately $620,415,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GILD. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $128.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $133.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Daiwa America raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.39.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 2.0%

NASDAQ GILD opened at $115.05 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $113.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.91. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $78.26 and a 52 week high of $121.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $142.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.92, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.36.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.05. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 21.86% and a return on equity of 50.99%. The business had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.01 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Gilead Sciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.950-8.250 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is presently 62.95%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.74, for a total value of $548,700.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 8,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $978,880.80. This represents a 35.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 28,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total transaction of $3,318,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 114,168 shares in the company, valued at $13,532,333.04. This represents a 19.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 82,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,371,330. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.