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

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,289,917 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 749,047 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.27% of Gilead Sciences worth $2,608,337,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GILD. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 149.5% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 81,620 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,843,000 after buying an additional 48,910 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 25,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,627 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Gilead Sciences by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 387,492 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $35,793,000 after purchasing an additional 9,791 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lifted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 3.9% during 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. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 1,940.8% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 365,820 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $30,672,000 after purchasing an additional 347,895 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on GILD shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Eleven equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.12.

Insider Activity

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 142,180 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were 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 directly owns 129,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,626,253.06. The trade was a 52.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 302,785 shares of company stock worth $30,503,250 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GILD opened at $112.05 on Tuesday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.07 and a 52 week high of $119.96. The company has a market capitalization of $139.54 billion, a PE ratio of 302.84, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $105.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $95.20.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

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