Eukles Asset Management Sells 469 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Eukles Asset Management cut its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,218 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 469 shares during the period. Eukles Asset Management’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,152,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 324.8% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 18,002,214 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,070,232,000 after acquiring an additional 13,764,169 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,115,186,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 96,759.8% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,111,194 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $868,046,000 after buying an additional 10,100,755 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 70.6% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 15,492,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $921,006,000 after buying an additional 6,410,047 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 179.0% in the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 4,543,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $340,526,000 after buying an additional 2,915,141 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on GILD. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.71.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:GILD traded up $0.13 on Friday, hitting $66.29. The stock had a trading volume of 3,610,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,257,461. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $72.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.58. The stock has a market cap of $82.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.77, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.90 and a 1-year high of $87.86.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $7.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.10 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.67 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.77 per share. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.44%.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.