Sentry Investment Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,533 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 702 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GILD. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter worth about $210,000. Abundance Wealth Counselors bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,881,000. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 1,288,884 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $96,589,000 after buying an additional 515,191 shares in the last quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 42,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,147,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares during the period. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 33.9% during the 3rd quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 1,535,016 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $115,034,000 after purchasing an additional 388,482 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GILD shares. Mizuho cut their price target on Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued 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 an average target price of $85.36.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of GILD opened at $68.00 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.19. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1 year low of $67.62 and a 1 year high of $87.86. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.27.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $7.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.67 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.53%. The ex-dividend date 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 is presently 68.44%.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.29% of the stock is currently 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.