Bender Robert & Associates Sells 5,262 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Bender Robert & Associates decreased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 17.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,876 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 5,262 shares during the quarter. Gilead Sciences makes up 0.5% of Bender Robert & Associates’ holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Bender Robert & Associates’ holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $2,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Gilead Sciences by 324.8% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 18,002,214 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,070,232,000 after purchasing an additional 13,764,169 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,115,186,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 96,759.8% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,111,194 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $868,046,000 after purchasing an additional 10,100,755 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 70.6% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 15,492,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $921,006,000 after buying an additional 6,410,047 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 179.0% in the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,543,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $340,526,000 after buying an additional 2,915,141 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GILD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays lowered their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Truist Financial downgraded Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $84.71.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

GILD traded down $0.77 on Thursday, hitting $66.16. 6,391,849 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,307,334. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $72.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.66. The stock has a market cap of $82.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.90 and a fifty-two week high of $87.86.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.04). Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 38.85%. The business had revenue of $7.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.66%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 68.44%.

Insider Activity

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.