Colonial River Investments LLC Lowers Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Colonial River Investments LLC lowered its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,114 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 193 shares during the period. Colonial River Investments LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GILD. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,546,000. Delta Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $374,000. Atlantic Family Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $370,000. Pavion Blue Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $217,000. Finally, Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 41,922 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,872,000 after buying an additional 4,574 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.35, for a total value of $228,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 129,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,863,898.55. The trade was a 1.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 80,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,427,227.92. The trade was a 67.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 706,212 shares of company stock valued at $67,324,826 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.08.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 1.0 %

GILD stock opened at $111.03 on Tuesday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1-year low of $62.07 and a 1-year high of $111.99. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $95.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $138.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 300.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.18.

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

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s 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.