King Luther Capital Management Corp Sells 2,382 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

King Luther Capital Management Corp cut its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 21.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,903 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 2,382 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GILD. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences in the first quarter valued at about $134,489,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 8,238.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,642,504 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $137,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,622,806 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $541,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564,792 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the second quarter valued at approximately $102,298,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 159.8% in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 78,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,545,480.06. The trade was a 27.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 99,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,113,308.50. This represents a 20.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,947 shares of company stock valued at $4,968,674. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GILD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Leerink Partners upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $74.00 to $96.00 in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.41.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of GILD opened at $90.19 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $112.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1,002.11, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.86. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1-year low of $62.07 and a 1-year high of $98.90.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 29.00%. The company had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.29 EPS. Gilead Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3,422.22%.

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.