Man Group plc Buys 243,567 Shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Man Group plc grew its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD - Free Report) by 38.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 873,179 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 243,567 shares during the period. Man Group plc owned about 0.07% of Gilead Sciences worth $80,656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,789,254,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 40,319,432 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $3,724,306,000 after buying an additional 7,157,113 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 723.3% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,434,665 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $594,370,000 after buying an additional 5,653,075 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 14,915,095 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,377,707,000 after buying an additional 2,458,954 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Gilead Sciences in the 4th quarter worth approximately $207,340,000. 83.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $85.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $108.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $110.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gilead Sciences news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 17,929 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.17, for a total value of $2,118,669.93. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 169,061 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,977,938.37. This trade represents a 9.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 25,429 shares of company stock valued at $2,894,445 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of GILD stock traded up $2.16 on Friday, hitting $102.50. 6,395,303 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,661,033. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a current ratio of 1.50. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a one year low of $62.07 and a one year high of $119.96. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $105.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 277.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.26.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.77 billion. Gilead Sciences had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 31.63%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($1.32) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a $0.79 dividend. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Gilead Sciences's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.53%.

Gilead Sciences Company 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.