Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Lowers Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC cut its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 43,632 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 623 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $3,196,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $210,000. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,787,355 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $306,814,000 after buying an additional 175,925 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,281,489 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $589,873,000 after acquiring an additional 87,482 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Gilead Sciences in the fourth quarter valued at about $74,000. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 317,539 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,724,000 after purchasing an additional 60,697 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 0.0 %

GILD stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $66.56. 981,054 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,532,693. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 184.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $87.86. The business has a 50 day moving average of $66.06 and a 200-day moving average of $72.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.31, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.32) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.49) by $0.17. The company had revenue of $6.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.36 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 24.34% and a net margin of 1.76%. Gilead Sciences’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were issued a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.63%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 855.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.63, for a total value of $137,260.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,380 shares in the company, valued at $6,614,559.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GILD shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $74.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $83.47.

Gilead Sciences 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.