Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) Shares Bought by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC raised its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,206,472 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 69,091 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $111,442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted 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 buying an additional 841,776 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 11,665,593 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after acquiring an additional 14,680,161 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.1% during the third 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,002,779 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $739,217,000 after purchasing an additional 249,804 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 142,180 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.22, for a total transaction of $13,822,739.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 129,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,626,253.06. This trade represents a 52.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 302,785 shares of company stock valued at $30,503,250 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GILD shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. DZ Bank raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $115.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Eleven research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.52.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $107.89 on Wednesday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.07 and a 12 month high of $119.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $134.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 291.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is presently 854.05%.

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.