Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 86,409 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC cut its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 21.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 313,225 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 86,409 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $28,933,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bellevue Group AG boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 18.2% during the third quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 46,027 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,859,000 after purchasing an additional 7,093 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 149.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 81,620 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,843,000 after buying an additional 48,910 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $851,743,000 after acquiring an additional 93,068 shares during the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the third quarter valued at about $830,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 12.9% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 323,011 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,081,000 after purchasing an additional 36,895 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $91.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm has a market cap of $114.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,020.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.18. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.81. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $98.90.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 3,422.22%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total value of $620,355.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at $815,198.80. This represents a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total value of $2,341,485.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 99,599 shares in the company, valued at $9,113,308.50. This trade represents a 20.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 456,234 shares of company stock worth $42,130,461 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on GILD. Leerink Partnrs raised Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Gilead Sciences from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $87.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $84.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Eleven research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.96.

Gilead Sciences 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.