United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 203,261 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 43,103 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $18,775,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GILD. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 118.5% during the 4th quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 284 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 325.0% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 340 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.12.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 17,929 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.17, for a total transaction of $2,118,669.93. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 169,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,977,938.37. This represents a 9.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 300,285 shares of company stock valued at $30,274,875 over the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $105.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.59 billion, a PE ratio of 285.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $108.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.11. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $119.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 31.63% and a net margin of 1.67%. On average, analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 854.05%.

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.