CapWealth Advisors LLC Sells 4,276 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

CapWealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 253,715 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 4,276 shares during the quarter. Gilead Sciences makes up about 2.6% of CapWealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. CapWealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $23,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 14.7% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 400,819 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $33,645,000 after acquiring an additional 51,390 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 219,045 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $18,365,000 after buying an additional 30,451 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in Gilead Sciences by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,047,609 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $171,672,000 after buying an additional 189,622 shares in the last quarter. SPC Financial Inc. raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 11.0% in the third quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 5,530 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $464,000 after buying an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GILD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.33.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 1.8 %

GILD stock opened at $104.08 on Friday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.07 and a 52 week high of $106.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,156.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. Equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is 3,422.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total transaction of $15,094,275.12. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 80,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,427,227.92. The trade was a 67.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 137,676 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.22, for a total transaction of $14,073,240.72. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 171,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,502,415.06. The trade was a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 710,500 shares of company stock worth $67,684,956. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.