Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Raises Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 330.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 740,097 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 568,319 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $68,363,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,171,691 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,044,795,000 after acquiring an additional 841,776 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,540,870 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,302,119,000 after buying an additional 574,421 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter worth $1,789,254,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,002,779 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $739,217,000 after buying an additional 249,804 shares in the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In related news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.35, for a total value of $228,375.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,863,898.55. This represents a 1.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In the last quarter, insiders sold 302,785 shares of company stock valued at $30,503,250. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on GILD shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of 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. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $105.12.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of GILD stock opened at $111.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 302.14, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $105.48 and a 200 day moving average of $94.90. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $62.07 and a 52 week high of $119.96. 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 posted 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, research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were 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 was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio is 854.05%.

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.