Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 8.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,572 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,100 shares during the quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 198.3% in the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 358 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the second quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Cedar Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 51.6% in the second quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at $6,545,480.06. The trade was a 27.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was 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 approximately $8,398,843.87. This represents a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,947 shares of company stock worth $4,968,674. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GILD has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Maxim Group downgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $93.86.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 4.0 %

GILD stock opened at $88.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $110.17 billion, a PE ratio of 982.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.26. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $98.90. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $86.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.96.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.29 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 3,422.22%.

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.