Andrew D. Dickinson Sells 137,676 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Stock

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 137,676 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.22, for a total value of $14,073,240.72. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 171,223 shares in the company, valued at $17,502,415.06. This trade represents a 44.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ GILD opened at $104.08 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $129.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,156.44, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.37. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.07 and a 52 week high of $106.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. On average, research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 854.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,789,254,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,780,329,000 after buying an additional 14,680,161 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,900,921,000 after buying an additional 11,665,593 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 723.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,434,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $594,370,000 after buying an additional 5,653,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,915,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,377,707,000 after buying an additional 2,458,954 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Leerink Partnrs raised Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Barclays raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price target on the stock. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.33.

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.