National Pension Service Increases Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

National Pension Service increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 15.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,250,202 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 442,559 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $300,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 79.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after purchasing an additional 14,680,161 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,900,921,000 after buying an additional 11,665,593 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 723.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,434,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $594,370,000 after acquiring an additional 5,653,075 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 350.1% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,305,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $193,274,000 after acquiring an additional 1,793,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth $87,163,000. Hedge funds and other 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.35, for a total transaction of $228,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,863,898.55. This trade represents a 1.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 542,001 shares of company stock valued at $52,230,551 over the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GILD shares. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $113.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $80.00 to $120.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.08.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 0.4 %

GILD stock opened at $111.51 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $96.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $89.35. The company has a market capitalization of $138.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 301.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.07 and a 52 week high of $112.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 31.63% and a net margin of 1.67%. On average, analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is 854.05%.

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.