Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Decreases Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System decreased its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,136 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 4,844 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $6,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GILD. Bellevue Group AG grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 18.2% in the third quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 46,027 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,859,000 after purchasing an additional 7,093 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 149.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 81,620 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,843,000 after purchasing an additional 48,910 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 25,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,627 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 387,492 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $35,793,000 after purchasing an additional 9,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 142,167 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,132,000 after purchasing an additional 5,382 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.35, for a total value of $228,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,873 shares in the company, valued at $11,863,898.55. This trade represents a 1.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 302,785 shares of company stock valued at $30,503,250. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GILD shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $115.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $104.52.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

GILD opened at $107.51 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $133.89 billion, a PE ratio of 290.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $103.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.47. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $119.96.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 31.63%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued 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 is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is 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.