AGF Management Ltd. Has $469.82 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

AGF Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 264.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,038,178 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,204,016 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.5% of AGF Management Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. AGF Management Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $469,824,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 242.9% in the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter worth $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total transaction of $200,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,383,200. This trade represents a 12.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock worth $47,223,172. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

GOOGL stock traded up $0.43 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $199.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 19,647,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 33,974,156. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company's fifty day moving average price is $186.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $173.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.27, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given 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 of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

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.