Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 51,453 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 590,156 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 51,453 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $54,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,780,329,000 after buying an additional 14,680,161 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,900,921,000 after acquiring an additional 11,665,593 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $594,370,000 after acquiring an additional 5,653,075 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,793,145 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 8,238.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,642,504 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $137,708,000 after purchasing an additional 1,622,806 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on GILD. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $83.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Daiwa America raised shares of Gilead Sciences to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.08.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $107.65 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $94.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.23. 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 cap of $134.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 290.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.18. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $107.81.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 31.63%. Equities analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 832.43%.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 6,788 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.39, for a total value of $620,355.32. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $815,198.80. The trade was a 43.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 164,211 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.92, for a total value of $15,094,275.12. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 80,801 shares in the company, valued at $7,427,227.92. This represents a 67.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 713,000 shares of company stock worth $67,945,181 in the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company 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.