SlateStone Wealth LLC Reduces Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

SlateStone Wealth LLC decreased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 7.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 11,377 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 891 shares during the quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $922,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Tompkins Financial Corp increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 223.1% in the third quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 349 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of GILD traded up $0.37 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $67.32. The company had a trading volume of 2,363,959 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,264,965. The stock has a market cap of $83.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.19. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $76.51. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $65.90 and a fifty-two week high of $87.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $7.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.10 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 38.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.67 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.58%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is presently 68.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GILD. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Gilead Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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 research note on Monday, March 4th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.71.

Gilead Sciences Company Profile

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.