Bridgewater Associates LP Cuts Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Bridgewater Associates LP reduced its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 73.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 206,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 583,702 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $17,350,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after acquiring an additional 14,680,161 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,414,268 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $851,743,000 after purchasing an additional 93,068 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,412,413 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $714,421,000 after purchasing an additional 268,208 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,889,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $541,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564,792 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,752,975 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $650,009,000 after buying an additional 224,960 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GILD shares. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Daiwa America raised shares of Gilead Sciences to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.41.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $92.41 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $87.91 and a 200 day moving average of $77.42. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.07 and a 52 week high of $98.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $115.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,026.78, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.17.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $7.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 3,422.22%.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total value of $2,341,485.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 99,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,113,308.50. This trade represents a 20.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total value of $2,459,529.46. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,545,480.06. The trade was a 27.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 63,735 shares of company stock worth $5,589,030 over the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.