New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Sells 1,600 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board reduced its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 59,326 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 1,600 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $5,480,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 14.7% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 400,819 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $33,645,000 after purchasing an additional 51,390 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 16.1% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 219,045 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $18,365,000 after acquiring an additional 30,451 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 10.2% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,047,609 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $171,672,000 after purchasing an additional 189,622 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 11.0% in the third quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 5,530 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ GILD opened at $104.08 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $129.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,156.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The business has a 50-day moving average of $93.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.37. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.07 and a 1 year high of $106.69.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. On average, analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3,422.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GILD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at $815,198.80. This trade represents a 43.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,126.44. This trade represents a 64.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 710,500 shares of company stock valued at $67,684,956 in the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.