UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Has $37.93 Million Holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 79.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 410,659 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 181,510 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $37,933,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in 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 worth $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 723.3% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,434,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $594,370,000 after buying an additional 5,653,075 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the 4th quarter worth about $207,340,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 350.1% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,305,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $193,274,000 after buying an additional 1,793,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 148.4% in the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 1,817,880 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $167,209,000 after acquiring an additional 1,085,987 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $115.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. DZ Bank upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $80.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Eleven 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $104.52.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

GILD stock opened at $109.27 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $136.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 295.32, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $104.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.50. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $119.96.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its earnings results 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, equities analysts expect 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 given a dividend of $0.79 per share. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is currently 854.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 17,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.17, for a total value of $2,118,669.93. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 169,061 shares in the company, valued at $19,977,938.37. The trade was a 9.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 302,785 shares of company stock worth $30,503,250. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.