Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Boosts Stock Position in Gilead Sciences, Inc. $GILD

Key Points

• Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in Gilead Sciences by 50.8% in the first quarter, now holding approximately $173.38 million worth of shares.
• Several institutional investors significantly boosted their holdings in Gilead, with Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raising its stakes by 314.6% to own over $1.64 billion in shares.
• Gilead Sciences recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.79 per share, with an annualized yield of 2.8%, to be paid on September 29th.

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD - Free Report) by 50.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,547,298 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 521,512 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned 0.12% of Gilead Sciences worth $173,375,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GILD. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Colonial Trust Advisors grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 304.3% during the 1st quarter. Colonial Trust Advisors now owns 283 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Core Alternative Capital grew its stake in Gilead Sciences by 370.8% during the 1st quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 306 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Gilead Sciences during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.67% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.74, for a total transaction of $548,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 8,920 shares of the company's stock, valued at $978,880.80. This represents a 35.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Johanna Mercier sold 28,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.53, for a total value of $3,318,840.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 114,168 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,532,333.04. The trade was a 19.70% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 82,000 shares of company stock worth $9,339,230 over the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on GILD shares. Daiwa America upgraded Gilead Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Needham & Company LLC upgraded Gilead Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $133.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Truist Financial upgraded Gilead Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $108.00 to $127.00 in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Gilead Sciences from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $128.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $115.39.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

NASDAQ GILD traded down $1.36 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $112.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,145,892 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,514,135. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.33. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1-year low of $77.74 and a 1-year high of $121.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.15. The company's 50-day moving average is $112.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.35.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.96 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $7.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.95 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 50.99% and a net margin of 21.86%.Gilead Sciences's quarterly revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.01 EPS. Gilead Sciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.950-8.250 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Gilead Sciences's dividend payout ratio is presently 62.95%.

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.