Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 10,401 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 572,192 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,401 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $46,353,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GILD. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 324.8% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 18,002,214 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,070,232,000 after purchasing an additional 13,764,169 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 17,196,950 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,476,358,000 after purchasing an additional 1,780,489 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 70.6% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 15,492,116 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $921,006,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410,047 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 14.8% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 15,421,436 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $951,350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,987,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 3.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,969,251 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $889,922,000 after acquiring an additional 430,810 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GILD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho decreased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $101.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Friday. StockNews.com cut Gilead Sciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group decreased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $81.00 to $75.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.71.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GILD opened at $66.76 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.90 and a 12 month high of $87.86. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $71.96 and a 200-day moving average of $76.57. The company has a market capitalization of $83.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.19.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.04). Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 38.85% and a net margin of 20.89%. The business had revenue of $7.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.77 per share. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is currently 68.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Merdad Parsey sold 2,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.96, for a total transaction of $145,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,026,339.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Gilead Sciences 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.