Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC Cuts Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 71,042 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 3,598 shares during the period. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $5,755,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.9% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 16,909,619 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,267,207,000 after buying an additional 158,794 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 3.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,922,488 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,118,291,000 after purchasing an additional 504,475 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,046,652 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $408,829,000 after purchasing an additional 493,920 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,992,415 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $404,435,000 after buying an additional 457,576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,773,688 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $357,740,000 after buying an additional 531,314 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Gilead Sciences stock traded up $0.76 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $65.54. 7,071,165 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,455,339. The company has a market capitalization of $81.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 179.94, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.22. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12-month low of $64.33 and a 12-month high of $87.86. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.78.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 24.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.70%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is currently 855.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 27th. Truist Financial downgraded Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Company 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.