Banco Santander S.A. Sells 66,268 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Banco Santander S.A. trimmed its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 19.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 273,560 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 66,268 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $22,935,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 1st quarter worth approximately $134,489,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 8,238.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,642,504 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $137,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,622,806 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,889,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $541,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564,792 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the second quarter valued at approximately $102,298,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 159.8% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,337,717 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $195,994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,842 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,545,480.06. This represents a 27.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total transaction of $167,660.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 100,189 shares in the company, valued at $8,398,843.87. This represents a 1.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,947 shares of company stock worth $4,968,674. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GILD opened at $88.29 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $110.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 984.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.17. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.07 and a twelve month high of $98.90. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $76.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be issued a $0.77 dividend. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3,422.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GILD shares. Leerink Partnrs raised Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.45.

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.