Wright Investors Service Inc. Sells 1,167 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Wright Investors Service Inc. reduced its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,232 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,167 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $2,044,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 1,856 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Nilsine Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.1% in the third quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 11,894 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $891,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Etesian Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 18,318 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,486,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc. raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 8,862 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GILD. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.71.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of GILD traded down $0.88 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $66.05. The company had a trading volume of 2,077,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,243,939. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.66. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.92 and a 1-year high of $87.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.43. The company has a market capitalization of $82.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.19.

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

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.44%.

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.