Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Makes New $1.70 Million Investment in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 18,397 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,699,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GILD. Man Group plc increased its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 873,179 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $80,656,000 after purchasing an additional 243,567 shares in the last quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 284,243 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,750,000 after purchasing an additional 14,009 shares in the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 280.3% during the fourth quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 11,207 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 8,260 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 5,208,321 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $481,093,000 after buying an additional 724,493 shares during the period. Finally, Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. bought a new position in Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GILD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America boosted 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. DZ Bank raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Gilead Sciences in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $125.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Nine 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.55.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

Gilead Sciences stock opened at $101.43 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 274.14, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.26. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $119.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $106.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.51.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.32) earnings per share. Gilead Sciences’s revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is 66.53%.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 17,929 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.17, for a total transaction of $2,118,669.93. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 169,061 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,977,938.37. The trade was a 9.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,929 shares of company stock valued at $2,644,895. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company 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.