Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Cuts Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lowered its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD - Free Report) by 21.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 313,225 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after selling 86,409 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC's holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $28,933,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GILD. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 101.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 51.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GILD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Maxim Group cut shares of Gilead Sciences from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $125.00 price target for the company. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $97.96.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:GILD traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $91.84. 6,852,085 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,370,915. The company has a fifty day moving average of $91.75 and a 200 day moving average of $83.97. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.07 and a 12 month high of $98.90. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $114.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,020.44, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.18.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.29 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Gilead Sciences's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3,422.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total value of $620,355.32. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at $815,198.80. This represents a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total transaction of $23,064,310.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 138,919 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,126.44. This represents a 64.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 456,234 shares of company stock worth $42,130,461. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.