Shell Asset Management Co. Lowers Stock Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Shell Asset Management Co. lowered its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 22.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,635 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 18,992 shares during the quarter. Shell Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $6,155,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bridgewater Associates LP lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 122.7% in the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP now owns 460,936 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $42,577,000 after purchasing an additional 253,994 shares during the period. McAdam LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 25,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,627 shares during the period. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 284,243 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,750,000 after purchasing an additional 14,009 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 142,167 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $13,132,000 after purchasing an additional 5,382 shares during the period. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 80.4% during the 4th quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 10,587 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $978,000 after acquiring an additional 4,718 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $100.34 on Friday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $105.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.58. The stock has a market cap of $124.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 271.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.26. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.07 and a twelve month high of $119.96.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.77 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 31.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.32) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was 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 directly owns 168,174 shares in the company, valued at $17,893,713.60. The trade was a 1.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 22,929 shares of company stock worth $2,644,895. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GILD shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $132.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $125.00 price objective for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.55.

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.