Bridgewater Associates LP Sells 583,702 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Bridgewater Associates LP cut its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 73.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 206,942 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 583,702 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $17,350,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 14,680,161 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 8,238.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,642,504 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $137,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,622,806 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 24.7% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 7,889,663 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $541,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,564,792 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the second quarter valued at about $102,298,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 159.8% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,337,717 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $195,994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,842 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $125.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.41.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ GILD opened at $92.41 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.26. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $62.07 and a fifty-two week high of $98.90. The stock has a market cap of $115.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,026.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.17. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.42.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly 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 analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.29 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.37 earnings per share for the current 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. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3,422.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total transaction of $2,341,485.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 99,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,113,308.50. The trade was a 20.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total value of $620,355.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at $815,198.80. The trade was a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 63,735 shares of company stock worth $5,589,030 in the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.