Prosperity Consulting Group LLC Lowers Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lessened its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 31.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 36,370 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 16,615 shares during the quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $2,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 20.5% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 183,224 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $12,571,000 after buying an additional 31,148 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 27.0% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 58,123 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,988,000 after purchasing an additional 12,349 shares during the last quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 42.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 377,017 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $25,867,000 after purchasing an additional 112,395 shares in the last quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 43,445 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,981,000 after buying an additional 6,556 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 108,280 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,429,000 after buying an additional 14,714 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.63, for a total transaction of $137,260.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,614,559.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.63, for a total transaction of $137,260.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,614,559.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total value of $2,459,529.46. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares in the company, valued at $6,545,480.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 36,847 shares of company stock valued at $3,002,940. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on GILD. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Raymond James upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $93.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded Gilead Sciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.06.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of GILD opened at $82.81 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 230.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.14. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $87.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $75.48 and its 200-day moving average is $70.87.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $6.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.64 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.34% and a net margin of 3.79%. Equities analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 855.56%.

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.