Vanguard Group Inc. Has $10.67 Billion Stock Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 115,528,392 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 185,508 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.09% of Gilead Sciences worth $10,671,358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bellevue Group AG increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 46,027 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,859,000 after buying an additional 7,093 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 149.5% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 81,620 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,843,000 after acquiring an additional 48,910 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 25,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,627 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew 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 acquiring an additional 9,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 5,382 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on GILD. DZ Bank raised 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped 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. Eleven investment 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 MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $104.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 142,180 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.22, for a total transaction of $13,822,739.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 129,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,626,253.06. This represents a 52.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In 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 corporate insiders.

Gilead Sciences Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of GILD opened at $107.08 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $103.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.85. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $119.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.20. The company has a market capitalization of $133.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 289.41, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share (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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.