AIA Group Ltd Acquires 17,272 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• AIA Group Ltd increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 16.8% in Q1, acquiring an additional 17,272 shares, bringing its total to 119,918 shares valued at approximately $18.73 million.
• Alphabet's CEO, Sundar Pichai, sold 32,500 shares for about $5.8 million, resulting in a 1.25% decrease in his ownership of the company stock.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with the ex-dividend date set for September 8th, reflecting a 0.4% dividend yield and an annualized payout ratio of 8.95%.

AIA Group Ltd increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 16.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 119,918 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 17,272 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $96,465,000 after acquiring an additional 20,855 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,027,000. Finally, Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Alapocas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 85,996 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $16,377,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 274,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,674,273 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $1.13 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $203.03. The stock had a trading volume of 19,558,050 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,059,596. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $183.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.55. The firm has a market cap of $2.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $215.19.

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.