Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases Shares of 431,022 Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 431,022 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,908,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GILD. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 149.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 81,620 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $6,843,000 after acquiring an additional 48,910 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC lifted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 16.7% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Gilead Sciences by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 387,492 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $35,793,000 after buying an additional 9,791 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.9% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 5,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Financial Private Client LLC lifted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1,222.0% during the 4th quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 6,068 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $561,000 after acquiring an additional 5,609 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GILD. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped 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. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $123.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Gilead Sciences from $115.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Gilead Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.12.

Gilead Sciences Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of GILD stock opened at $107.25 on Friday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.07 and a twelve month high of $119.96. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $107.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $95.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $133.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 289.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.32.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 854.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.35, for a total transaction of $228,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 129,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,863,898.55. This represents a 1.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 302,785 shares of company stock worth $30,503,250. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.