Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Decreases Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC reduced its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 659,807 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 13,605 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Gilead Sciences worth $60,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GILD. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 400,819 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $33,645,000 after purchasing an additional 51,390 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 219,045 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $18,365,000 after buying an additional 30,451 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,047,609 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $171,672,000 after buying an additional 189,622 shares during the last quarter. Asset Dedication LLC raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 7.5% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 4,481 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 17,822 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,494,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total value of $15,094,275.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 80,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,427,227.92. This represents a 67.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 137,676 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.22, for a total value of $14,073,240.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 171,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,502,415.06. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 710,500 shares of company stock worth $67,684,956 in the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GILD shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho lifted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.33.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $105.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.26. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.07 and a 1 year high of $106.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $132.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,177.33, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.24.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. Equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3,422.22%.

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.