United Asset Strategies Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. $GILD

United Asset Strategies Inc. lowered its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,916 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 874 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $3,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tiemann Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 1st quarter valued at $269,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 314.6% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,703,103 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,647,484,000 after buying an additional 11,156,382 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 21.3% during the first quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 6,604 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 1,160 shares during the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 1.2% during the first quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,840,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 0.6% in the first quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 394,093 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $44,057,000 after acquiring an additional 2,319 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total value of $296,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 160,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,977,838.30. This represents a 1.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 28,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total value of $3,318,840.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 114,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,532,333.04. This trade represents a 19.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 82,000 shares of company stock valued at $9,339,230 over the last ninety days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Daiwa America upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Daiwa Capital Markets raised Gilead Sciences from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $128.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $132.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.39.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD opened at $118.73 on Thursday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12-month low of $74.80 and a 12-month high of $121.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $147.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $112.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $108.78.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.05. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 21.86% and a return on equity of 50.99%. The business had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.01 earnings per share. Gilead Sciences’s quarterly revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Gilead Sciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.950-8.250 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is currently 62.95%.

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.