Royce & Associates LP Lowers Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. $GILD

Royce & Associates LP cut its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 6,500 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $4,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Csenge Advisory Group boosted its position in Gilead Sciences by 319.0% in the third quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 21,394 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,375,000 after purchasing an additional 16,288 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 52.1% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 78,494 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $8,713,000 after purchasing an additional 26,882 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 249.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 10,045 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,115,000 after buying an additional 7,168 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.1% during the third quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 1,415,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $157,139,000 after buying an additional 42,200 shares during the period. Finally, TriaGen Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Gilead Sciences during the third quarter valued at about $1,274,000. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.50, for a total transaction of $617,500.00. Following the sale, the director owned 8,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,101,620. This represents a 35.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 28,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.44, for a total transaction of $4,324,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 120,288 shares in the company, valued at $18,577,278.72. This represents a 18.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 309,280 shares of company stock valued at $43,935,470 over the last ninety days. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $135.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Daiwa Securities Group raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $129.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research report on Friday, February 20th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $155.00 price target on the stock. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.72.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $148.22 on Thursday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.37 and a 1 year high of $157.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $137.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $125.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.55 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company has a market cap of $184.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.37.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 10th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.68 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 28.90%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.90 EPS. Gilead Sciences has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.450-8.850 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is currently 46.68%.

Gilead Sciences Profile

Gilead Sciences, Inc, founded in 1987 and headquartered in Foster City, California, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of medicines in areas of high unmet medical need. The company initially built its reputation in antiviral therapies and has since expanded into oncology, cell therapy and inflammatory diseases. Gilead operates a global research and commercial organization, conducting clinical development and selling medicines in markets around the world.

Gilead’s product portfolio is anchored by antiviral therapies for HIV and viral hepatitis.