Grove Bank & Trust Lowers Stock Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Grove Bank & Trust lessened its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,164 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 674 shares during the quarter. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $661,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GILD. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 5,138 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 477,393 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $38,674,000 after acquiring an additional 27,619 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,474,484 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $281,468,000 after acquiring an additional 57,537 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,120,000. Finally, Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. now owns 87,966 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GILD opened at $68.56 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.19. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $67.62 and a one year high of $87.86. The company’s fifty day moving average is $72.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.43.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $7.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.10 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.67 EPS. Analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.77 dividend. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.49%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GILD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays cut 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 report on Monday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company cut 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. Finally, Truist Financial cut shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. One 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $85.36.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In related 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.78, for a total value of $428,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 101,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,709,586.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,026,339.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 9,000 shares of company stock valued at $721,180. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.