Alberta Investment Management Corp Sells 151,193 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Alberta Investment Management Corp lowered its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 16.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 750,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 151,193 shares during the quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $69,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GILD. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,044,795,000 after purchasing an additional 841,776 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 14,680,161 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,540,870 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,302,119,000 after purchasing an additional 574,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,752,975 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $650,009,000 after purchasing an additional 224,960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In related news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total value of $620,355.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $815,198.80. The trade was a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total transaction of $15,094,275.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 80,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,427,227.92. This represents a 67.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 710,500 shares of company stock worth $67,684,956. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GILD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences 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 raised their price target for the company from $80.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $102.08.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of GILD stock opened at $105.25 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $94.39 and a 200-day moving average of $88.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.07 and a 12-month high of $106.69. The firm has a market cap of $131.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 284.46, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.18.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.23. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 31.63%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.00%. 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. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is currently 832.43%.

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.