Meritage Portfolio Management Cuts Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Meritage Portfolio Management cut its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,558 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 342 shares during the quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $5,311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 4,753 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares in the last quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the third quarter valued at approximately $699,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 53.3% in the 3rd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,254 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 1,131 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 96.1% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,046 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,727,000 after purchasing an additional 11,293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wagner Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,337 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 751 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

GILD traded up $0.43 on Friday, hitting $65.70. 8,714,550 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,428,588. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.80 billion, a PE ratio of 14.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.19. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.63 and a 52 week high of $87.86. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $71.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.32.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.49) by $0.17. The business had revenue of $6.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.36 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 38.85%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.69%. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GILD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial cut Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Mizuho dropped 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 report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. TD Cowen cut their target price on Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Gilead Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.87.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.16% 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.