American Century Companies Inc. Purchases 288,009 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 16.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,051,517 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 288,009 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $189,499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 841,776 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 2.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 574,421 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,002,779 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $739,217,000 after acquiring an additional 249,804 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 17,929 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.17, for a total value of $2,118,669.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 169,061 shares in the company, valued at $19,977,938.37. This represents a 9.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 302,785 shares of company stock valued at $30,503,250. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on GILD shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.52.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $107.08 on Friday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1-year low of $62.07 and a 1-year high of $119.96. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $103.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 289.41, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.79 dividend. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend 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.