Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Shares Sold by Ridgewood Investments LLC

Ridgewood Investments LLC trimmed its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 17.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,008 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,364 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,017,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 101.9% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 51.6% in the second quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on GILD shares. Maxim Group downgraded Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $109.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Gilead Sciences from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $87.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Friday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.96.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GILD traded down $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $89.11. The company had a trading volume of 2,827,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,183,874. The company has a market cap of $111.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 990.11, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.07 and a 52 week high of $98.90. The business’s 50-day moving average is $91.93 and its 200 day moving average is $83.06. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The firm had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.29 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3,422.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 8,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 132,373 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,173,021.08. This represents a 6.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total transaction of $2,341,485.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 99,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,113,308.50. This represents a 20.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 453,734 shares of company stock worth $41,902,086 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.