Impax Asset Management Group plc Increases Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 126.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 380,570 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 212,828 shares during the quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $35,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,044,795,000 after acquiring an additional 841,776 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in 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 worth $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after buying an additional 14,680,161 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 valued at $2,302,119,000 after buying an additional 574,421 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 3.0% during 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 own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Gilead Sciences stock opened at $109.95 on Monday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $111.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $95.41 and its 200 day moving average is $88.83. The company has a market cap of $137.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 297.16, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.18.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. 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. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is presently 854.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on GILD. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.08.

Insider Activity

In other Gilead Sciences news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total transaction of $620,355.32. Following the sale, the director now owns 8,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $815,198.80. This trade represents a 43.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total value of $15,094,275.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 80,801 shares in the company, valued at $7,427,227.92. This trade represents a 67.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 713,000 shares of company stock valued at $67,945,181. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.