City Center Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

City Center Advisors LLC decreased its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 30.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,577 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,020 shares during the quarter. City Center Advisors LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 101.9% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 51.6% during the second quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the second quarter valued at $43,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on GILD. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $100.00 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 initiated coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price target for the company. Finally, Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen 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 an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.96.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $89.88 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.39. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.07 and a 12 month high of $98.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 998.67, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.10.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. Gilead Sciences’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 3,422.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.96, for a total value of $781,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 132,373 shares in the company, valued at $12,173,021.08. This trade represents a 6.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at $815,198.80. The trade was a 43.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 453,734 shares of company stock worth $41,902,086. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.