Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Purchases 614,059 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 149.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,025,786 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 614,059 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned approximately 0.08% of Gilead Sciences worth $94,752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,724,306,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157,113 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,659,007 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,293,822,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,331 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,289,917 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,608,337,000 after purchasing an additional 749,047 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Gilead Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,789,254,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,915,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,377,707,000 after buying an additional 2,458,954 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Shares of Gilead Sciences stock opened at $103.25 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $108.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.70. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 12-month low of $62.07 and a 12-month high of $119.96. The firm has a market cap of $128.56 billion, a PE ratio of 279.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.77 by $0.04. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 31.63% and a net margin of 1.67%. The company had revenue of $6.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.32) EPS. Gilead Sciences’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GILD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $116.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.09, for a total value of $260,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 169,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,597,559.49. This represents a 1.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 160,605 shares of company stock worth $16,718,136. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.