441,303 Shares in Gilead Sciences, Inc. $GILD Bought by OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 441,303 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $55,754,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at about $15,393,785,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 121,097,336 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,863,487,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113,692 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,240,518 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,393,921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151,213 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 27,698,660 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,399,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 23,121,620 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,837,948,000 after purchasing an additional 3,046,688 shares during the last quarter. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GILD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their target price on shares of Gilead Sciences from $170.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Maxim Group raised shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $165.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. HSBC upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $133.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Twenty-four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.04.

Gilead Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GILD opened at $146.12 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $131.97 and its 200 day moving average is $136.55. The stock has a market cap of $181.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -54.73 and a beta of 0.32. Gilead Sciences, Inc. has a 1-year low of $108.46 and a 1-year high of $157.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($6.75) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($7.25) by $0.50. Gilead Sciences had a negative return on equity of 2.11% and a negative net margin of 10.64%.The business had revenue of $7.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.01 earnings per share. Gilead Sciences’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post -0.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th will be issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 15th. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is presently -122.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gilead Sciences

In related news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 28,000 shares of Gilead Sciences stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.64, for a total value of $3,853,920.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 118,234 shares in the company, valued at $16,273,727.76. This trade represents a 19.15% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jeffrey Bluestone sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.02, for a total transaction of $725,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,459,771.32. This represents a 33.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 87,000 shares of company stock worth $11,562,960 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.