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

National Pension Service grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 15.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. 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 owned about 0.26% of Gilead Sciences worth $300,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 1.4% during the third 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 grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,900,921,000 after buying an additional 11,665,593 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 14,680,161 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 2.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,540,870 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,302,119,000 after acquiring an additional 574,421 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 3.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,752,975 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $650,009,000 after acquiring an additional 224,960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 248,645 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.76, for a total transaction of $23,064,310.20. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 138,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,886,126.44. This represents a 64.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 542,001 shares of company stock worth $52,230,551. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GILD has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $80.00 to $120.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wolfe Research started coverage on Gilead Sciences in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $70.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.08.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

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

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is an increase 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 presently 854.05%.

Gilead Sciences Company 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.