Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Shares Sold by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 42.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 140,922 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 103,596 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $11,815,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GILD. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new position in Gilead Sciences in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 101.9% in the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 198.3% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 358 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 51.6% in the 2nd quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total value of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 100,189 shares in the company, valued at $8,398,843.87. This trade represents a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the sale, the insider now owns 78,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,545,480.06. This represents a 27.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,947 shares of company stock valued at $4,968,674. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GILD. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.86.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of GILD stock traded down $1.42 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $90.69. 1,113,246 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,054,250. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $98.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $86.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.69. The company has a market cap of $113.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,023.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. Gilead Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio 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.