Franklin Resources Inc. Has $270.59 Million Stake in Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) by 30.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,929,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 688,018 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Gilead Sciences were worth $270,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 149.5% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 81,620 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,843,000 after buying an additional 48,910 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC raised its stake in Gilead Sciences by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 25,372 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,627 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Gilead Sciences by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 387,492 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $35,793,000 after purchasing an additional 9,791 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 142,167 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,132,000 after purchasing an additional 5,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Financial Private Client LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 1,222.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Financial Private Client LLC now owns 6,068 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 5,609 shares during the period. 83.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GILD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Gilead Sciences from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Gilead Sciences in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Gilead Sciences from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $115.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $108.00 target price for the company in a research report 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Gilead Sciences has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $105.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew D. Dickinson sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $91.35, for a total transaction of $228,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 129,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,863,898.55. This trade represents a 1.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 302,785 shares of company stock worth $30,503,250. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gilead Sciences Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ GILD opened at $111.28 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $106.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.40. 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 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $119.96. The company has a market capitalization of $138.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 300.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 0.21.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Gilead Sciences, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Gilead Sciences Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.79 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.16 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. This is a boost from Gilead Sciences’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.77. Gilead Sciences’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 854.05%.

Gilead Sciences 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.