Wesbanco Bank Inc. Decreases Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

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

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GILD. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 101.9% during the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at about $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $815,198.80. This represents a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total transaction of $23,064,310.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 138,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,886,126.44. This trade represents a 64.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 456,234 shares of company stock worth $42,130,461 in the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.96.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $92.92 on Friday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1-year low of $62.07 and a 1-year high of $98.90. 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 stock has a market cap of $115.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,032.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.18. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.63.

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

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

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