Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD)

Before we spend many hours researching a company, we’d like to analyze what hedge funds and billionaire investors think of the stock first. We would like to do so because the elite investors’ consensus returns have been exceptional. The top 30 S&P 500 stocks among hedge funds at the end of September 2014 yielded an average return of 9.5% during the last 12 months ending in October 30. Sixty three percent of these 30 stocks outperformed the market. Although the elite funds occasionally have their duds, such as Micron and Anadarko Petroleum, which fell 50% and 26%, respectively, during the same time period, the hedge fund picks seem to work on average. In the following paragraphs, we find out what the billionaire investors and hedge funds think of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD).

RAJ CREATIONZS / shutterstock.com

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) investors should pay attention to an increase in activity from the world’s largest hedge funds lately. GILD was in 90 hedge funds’ portfolio at the end of the third quarter of 2015. There were 84 hedge funds in our database with GILD positions at the end of the previous quarter.

If you’d ask most traders, hedge funds are seen as underperforming, old financial tools of the past. While there are greater than 8000 funds trading at the moment, Experts at hedge fund tracking site Insider Monkey choose to focus on the top tier of this club, around 700 funds. These investment experts manage the majority of the smart money’s total asset base, and by watching their first-class stock picks, Insider Monkey has brought to light various investment strategies that have historically beaten the broader indices. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy defeated the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points per annum for a decade in their back tests.

Now, we’re going to review the fresh action regarding Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD).

How are hedge funds trading Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)?

At the end of the third quarter, a total of 90 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish in this stock, a change of 7% from the previous quarter. With hedgies’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were upping their stakes significantly.

According to hedge fund intelligence website Insider Monkey, D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw had the most valuable position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD), worth close to $604 million, amounting to 0.9% of its total 13F portfolio. On D E Shaw’s heels is Egerton Capital Limited, led by John Armitage, holding a $549 million position; 6.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Other hedgies that are bullish comprise Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Clifford Fox’s Columbus Circle Investors and Samuel Isaly’s OrbiMed Advisors.

As aggregate interest increased, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Partner Fund Management, managed by Christopher MedlockáJames, established the most valuable position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD). Partner Fund Management had $110.6 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Tony Chedraoui’s Tyrus Capital also made a $85.9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new GILD investors: Mike Masters’s Masters Capital Management, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, and Joe DiMenna’s ZWEIG DIMENNA PARTNERS.

Let’s go over hedge fund activity in other stocks similar to Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD). We will take a look at Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSK), Novo Nordisk A/S (ADR) (NYSE:NVO), and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC). All of these stocks’ market caps match GILD’s market cap.

The comparison with these stocks show that the hedge fund sentiment towards Gilead is becoming stronger, which could suggest that the stock may be a good buying opportunity. This suggests that at the moment Gilead may be worth your attention.