Hennessy Advisors Inc. Decreases Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 57,800 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,100 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $5,339,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 101.9% in the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 51.6% during the 2nd quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $109.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $84.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.96.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total value of $620,355.32. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at $815,198.80. This trade represents a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total value of $23,064,310.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 138,919 shares in the company, valued at $12,886,126.44. The trade was a 64.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 456,234 shares of company stock valued at $42,130,461. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of GILD stock opened at $91.84 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $114.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,020.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.18. 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 fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $98.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.81.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly 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. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.29 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3,422.22%.

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.