Legal & General Group Plc Lowers Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,911,231 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,292,331 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $915,500,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GILD. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,580 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Southland Equity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC now owns 3,128 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Berkshire Bank boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Berkshire Bank now owns 3,398 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $314,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 4,265 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $394,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the period. Finally, Howe & Rusling Inc. increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 4,704 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $435,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,873 shares in the company, valued at $11,863,898.55. This trade represents a 1.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 302,785 shares of company stock worth $30,503,250 in the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GILD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Gilead Sciences from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $80.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $115.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.12.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

GILD opened at $107.25 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $107.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $95.98. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $119.96. The firm has a market cap of $133.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 289.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.32.

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

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 854.05%.

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.