Banque Cantonale Vaudoise Purchases New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 274,671 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $42,474,000. Alphabet accounts for about 1.9% of Banque Cantonale Vaudoise's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. RD Finance Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,327,000. FSA Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 23.2% in the first quarter. FSA Advisors Inc. now owns 2,631 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $407,000 after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% during the first quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 32,141 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,970,000 after purchasing an additional 874 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 13.3% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,523,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $390,172,000 after purchasing an additional 296,582 shares during the period. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 36.8% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 84,742 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,105,000 after buying an additional 22,799 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $196.52. 26,014,319 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,764,620. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $180.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 273,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,474,273 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JMP Securities increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane restated a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Profile

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.