KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Acquires New Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 754,608 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,703,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bellevue Group AG grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 46,027 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,859,000 after buying an additional 7,093 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 149.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 81,620 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,843,000 after purchasing an additional 48,910 shares during the period. McAdam LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 25,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,627 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 387,492 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $35,793,000 after purchasing an additional 9,791 shares during the period. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 142,167 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $13,132,000 after purchasing an additional 5,382 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.52.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 142,180 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.22, for a total transaction of $13,822,739.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,626,253.06. The trade was a 52.26 % 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 90 days, insiders have sold 302,785 shares of company stock worth $30,503,250. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD opened at $107.08 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $133.35 billion, a PE ratio of 289.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $119.96. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $103.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $93.75.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. This is an increase from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is presently 854.05%.

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.