Howland Capital Management LLC Sells 2,153 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Howland Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 14.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,086 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,153 shares during the quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GILD. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 79.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,780,329,000 after purchasing an additional 14,680,161 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 723.3% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,434,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $594,370,000 after purchasing an additional 5,653,075 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 350.1% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,305,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $193,274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,793,145 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 8,238.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,642,504 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $137,708,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622,806 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GILD. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $84.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $98.39.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GILD opened at $96.04 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $93.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.65. 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 company has a market cap of $119.69 billion, a PE ratio of 1,067.11, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $100.51.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $7,427,227.92. The trade was a 67.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 572,824 shares of company stock valued at $53,611,715. 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.