Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 749,047 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,289,917 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 749,047 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $2,608,337,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,044,795,000 after buying an additional 841,776 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,659,007 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,293,822,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,331 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter worth about $1,789,254,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 249,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 7,047,846 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $651,010,000 after buying an additional 50,434 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GILD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $115.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $80.00 to $120.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.12.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

GILD stock opened at $112.05 on Tuesday. 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 has a market cap of $139.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 302.84, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.20. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.07 and a 12-month high of $119.96.

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

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is 854.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.35, for a total transaction of $228,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,863,898.55. This represents a 1.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 302,785 shares of company stock worth $30,503,250. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.