Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 1,096 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky trimmed its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 92,292 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,096 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $8,525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 184.5% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 109,283 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,094,000 after purchasing an additional 70,872 shares during the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $99,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 329,898 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $30,473,000 after acquiring an additional 6,109 shares during the last quarter. Norinchukin Bank The lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Norinchukin Bank The now owns 68,098 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,290,000 after acquiring an additional 5,726 shares during the period. Finally, Ossiam boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Ossiam now owns 31,975 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,954,000 after acquiring an additional 1,006 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.40, for a total value of $266,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 168,174 shares in the company, valued at $17,893,713.60. This trade represents a 1.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 302,785 shares of company stock worth $30,540,875. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GILD. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.12.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD opened at $104.33 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $129.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 281.97, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $109.18 and a 200 day moving average of $97.77. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.07 and a 12 month high of $119.96.

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

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 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.