BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 656,780 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $125,593,000. Alphabet makes up 3.4% of BLI Banque de Luxembourg Investments' portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Optivise Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its position in Alphabet by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $11,816,000 after acquiring an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. Finally, Permanent Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $273,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.46.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 146,824 shares of company stock worth $25,086,603. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $0.98 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $163.23. The stock had a trading volume of 20,996,851 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,163,634. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.50. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.