South Dakota Investment Council Cuts Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. $GILD

South Dakota Investment Council cut its stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 59.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,246 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 43,072 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $3,246,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,364,226 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,233,912,000 after acquiring an additional 1,893,401 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Gilead Sciences by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,207,662 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,231,548,000 after purchasing an additional 727,515 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences during the second quarter worth $2,150,268,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 33.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,521,228 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,499,098,000 after buying an additional 3,394,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 18.2% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 10,467,411 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,167,221,000 after buying an additional 1,614,355 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Gilead Sciences

In other Gilead Sciences news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 28,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.44, for a total transaction of $4,324,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 120,288 shares in the company, valued at $18,577,278.72. This represents a 18.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.50, for a total value of $617,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 8,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,101,620. This represents a 35.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 309,280 shares of company stock valued at $43,935,470. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on GILD shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $150.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Argus upped their price target on Gilead Sciences from $135.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Barclays started coverage on Gilead Sciences in a report on Friday, February 20th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $155.00 price target for the company. Mizuho upped their target price on Gilead Sciences from $140.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.72.

Gilead Sciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:GILD opened at $148.22 on Thursday. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 52 week low of $93.37 and a 52 week high of $157.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $184.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.37. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $137.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $125.43.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.68 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 49.46% and a net margin of 28.90%.The company’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.90 EPS. Gilead Sciences has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.450-8.850 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 EPS for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th will be paid a $0.82 dividend. This is a positive change from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 13th. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is presently 46.68%.

Gilead Sciences Profile

Gilead Sciences, Inc, founded in 1987 and headquartered in Foster City, California, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of medicines in areas of high unmet medical need. The company initially built its reputation in antiviral therapies and has since expanded into oncology, cell therapy and inflammatory diseases. Gilead operates a global research and commercial organization, conducting clinical development and selling medicines in markets around the world.

Gilead’s product portfolio is anchored by antiviral therapies for HIV and viral hepatitis.