Sunbelt Securities Inc. Sells 6,030 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Sunbelt Securities Inc. reduced its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 36.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,650 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 6,030 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,193,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GILD. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at $1,789,254,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,724,306,000 after purchasing an additional 7,157,113 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 13,891.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,550,298 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $285,761,000 after purchasing an additional 2,532,070 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,915,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,377,707,000 after purchasing an additional 2,458,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter valued at about $207,340,000. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GILD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $116.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $110.55.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

GILD stock opened at $110.67 on Friday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a twelve month low of $66.01 and a twelve month high of $119.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The company has a market cap of $137.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.29. The business’s fifty day moving average is $106.39 and its 200-day moving average is $103.27.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $6.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 51.93% and a net margin of 20.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.32) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 28,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.52, for a total transaction of $3,010,560.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 121,152 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,026,263.04. The trade was a 18.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.40, for a total value of $266,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 168,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,893,713.60. The trade was a 1.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 48,500 shares of company stock valued at $5,236,245. Corporate insiders own 0.27% 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.