Eukles Asset Management Sells 469 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Eukles Asset Management lessened its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,218 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 469 shares during the period. Eukles Asset Management’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $1,152,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 9.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 57,967 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,446,000 after purchasing an additional 4,877 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.9% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 448,409 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,660,000 after buying an additional 16,643 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 44.3% during the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 8,642 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 2,654 shares during the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 12.5% during the first quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 5,763 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $343,000 after buying an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ergoteles LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences during the first quarter valued at about $2,304,000. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GILD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $76.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $91.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $84.71.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,026,339.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GILD traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $66.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,610,168 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,257,461. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $72.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.58. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $65.90 and a one year high of $87.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.19.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.04). Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 20.89% and a return on equity of 38.85%. The business had revenue of $7.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.67 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.65%. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 68.44%.

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.