Simplify Asset Management Inc. Takes $8.07 Million Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Simplify Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 96,202 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,066,000. Gilead Sciences accounts for 0.4% of Simplify Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. KCM Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,096 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $763,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares during the period. Archer Investment Corp raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 25.3% during the third quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 7,190 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $603,000 after buying an additional 1,454 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.2% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 43,324 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,632,000 after buying an additional 928 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 439,370 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $36,837,000 after buying an additional 22,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Gilead Sciences by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,416 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,580 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at $6,545,480.06. The trade was a 27.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total transaction of $2,341,485.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 99,599 shares in the company, valued at $9,113,308.50. This trade represents a 20.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,947 shares of company stock valued at $4,968,674 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Leerink Partners raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.86.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Gilead Sciences stock traded down $2.67 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $89.44. 2,614,662 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,060,544. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.07 and a 52 week high of $98.90. The firm has a market cap of $111.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,007.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.17. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. Gilead Sciences’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3,422.22%.

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.