Empire Financial Management Company LLC Sells 600 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Empire Financial Management Company LLC reduced its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 18.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Empire Financial Management Company LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $218,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 198.3% during the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 358 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 101.9% during the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 51.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total transaction of $23,064,310.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 138,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,126.44. The trade was a 64.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 100,189 shares in the company, valued at $8,398,843.87. The trade was a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 447,234 shares of company stock worth $41,288,086 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on GILD. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Leerink Partners upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.43.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Gilead Sciences stock opened at $92.38 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $79.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,026.44, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $98.90.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.