SouthState Corp Reduces Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

SouthState Corp lessened its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 18.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,062 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 4,098 shares during the quarter. SouthState Corp’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Tompkins Financial Corp grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 223.1% during the third quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 349 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the sale, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 0.8 %

GILD stock traded down $0.55 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $64.78. The stock had a trading volume of 7,822,402 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,459,802. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market cap of $80.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 179.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.22. The business has a 50-day moving average of $70.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $75.94. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $64.33 and a 52-week high of $87.86.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.49) by $0.17. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 24.34%. The firm had revenue of $6.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.36 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.75%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 855.56%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GILD. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target 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 decreased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $74.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 26th. Mizuho cut their target price on Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $69.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.69.

Gilead Sciences 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.