Knuff & Co LLC Sells 3,800 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Knuff & Co LLC cut its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 16.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 19,071 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 3,800 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,545,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 179.0% in the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,543,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $340,526,000 after purchasing an additional 2,915,141 shares during the period. abrdn plc increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 89.0% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 3,764,107 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $304,930,000 after acquiring an additional 1,772,887 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $133,584,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,971,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 18.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,534,839 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $339,841,000 after acquiring an additional 702,342 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group reduced their price target on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Mizuho reduced their price target on Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Maxim Group reduced their price target on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, April 27th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $83.69.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of GILD stock traded down $0.55 during trading on Friday, hitting $64.78. The company had a trading volume of 7,822,720 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,345,331. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 179.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.22. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $64.33 and a one year high of $87.86. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $70.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.49) by $0.17. The business had revenue of $6.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.36 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.76% and a return on equity of 24.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 3.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.75%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 855.56%.

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.