Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 13,481 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 310,535 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 13,481 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $28,684,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.2% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,047,609 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $171,672,000 after purchasing an additional 189,622 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 5.1% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 32,416 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,718,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 5.4% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 439,370 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $36,837,000 after purchasing an additional 22,624 shares in the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.2% during the third quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,096 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $763,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the third quarter valued at $122,000. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on GILD shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $115.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $116.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.52.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.96, for a total transaction of $781,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 132,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,173,021.08. This represents a 6.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 311,285 shares of company stock valued at $31,284,910. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ GILD opened at $111.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $138.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 301.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $101.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.82. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.07 and a twelve month high of $119.96.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 31.63% and a net margin of 1.67%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 854.05%.

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.