Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 702 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Sentry Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,533 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 702 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $529,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GILD. PCA Investment Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Tompkins Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 223.1% during the third quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 349 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total value of $145,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $68.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.06, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.27, a current ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12-month low of $67.62 and a 12-month high of $87.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $72.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.78.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $7.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.10 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.67 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This represents a $3.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.53%. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 68.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on GILD shares. Truist Financial cut shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $91.00 to $82.00 in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $77.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $85.36.

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.