Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 876,982 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 22,527 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.07% of Gilead Sciences worth $73,526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,780,329,000 after purchasing an additional 14,680,161 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position 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 buying an additional 93,068 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Gilead Sciences by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,412,413 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $714,421,000 after buying an additional 268,208 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in Gilead Sciences by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,889,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $541,310,000 after buying an additional 1,564,792 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.83, for a total value of $167,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 100,189 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,398,843.87. This trade represents a 1.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 138,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,886,126.44. This represents a 64.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 476,591 shares of company stock worth $43,747,615 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD stock opened at $91.59 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $114.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,017.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.18. The business’s 50 day moving average is $88.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.07 and a 12-month high of $98.90.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.36%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3,422.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.41.

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.