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

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 149.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,025,786 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 614,059 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $94,752,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co bought a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 3rd quarter valued at about $209,000. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 33.6% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 25,999 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,180,000 after acquiring an additional 6,535 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 278.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 18,660 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,564,000 after acquiring an additional 13,729 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 9.9% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 111,464 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $9,345,000 after purchasing an additional 10,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 99.6% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 37,265 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,124,000 after purchasing an additional 18,592 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of GILD opened at $103.25 on Friday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.07 and a 1 year high of $119.96. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $108.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.70. 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 firm has a market cap of $128.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 279.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.32.

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

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.09, for a total transaction 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 $17,597,559.49. This represents a 1.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 160,605 shares of company stock valued at $16,718,136 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GILD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. DZ Bank upgraded Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.55.

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.