Investment Partners LTD. Sells 685 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Investment Partners LTD. decreased its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,383 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 685 shares during the quarter. Investment Partners LTD.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 179.0% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,543,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $340,526,000 after purchasing an additional 2,915,141 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 89.0% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 3,764,107 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $304,930,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772,887 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $133,584,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,971,000. Finally, Bailard Inc. grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 9,100.7% during the third quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 722,345 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $54,133,000 after purchasing an additional 714,494 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

GILD stock traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $65.42. The stock had a trading volume of 12,382,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,443,315. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 181.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.19. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.63 and a 52 week high of $87.86. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $76.25. 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 (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.49) by $0.17. The company had revenue of $6.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.36 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 23.08% and a net margin of 1.76%. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.71%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is presently 855.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on GILD. HSBC upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $74.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.87.

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.