Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC significantly increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 163.8%, acquiring a total of 3,160 shares valued at $494,000.
• Alphabet recently reported impressive quarterly earnings with an EPS of $2.31, exceeding estimates, and a year-over-year revenue increase of 13.8%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21, scheduled for payment on September 15th, representing a 0.4% yield.

Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 163.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,160 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,962 shares during the period. Value Aligned Research Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $494,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $2,622,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after acquiring an additional 14,246,573 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,687,855 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $786,942,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total value of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,462,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,000 shares of the company's 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 sale, the director directly owned 6,916 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,383,200. The trade was a 12.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 222,210 shares of company stock worth $41,742,155 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $227.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $19.11 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $231.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 70,597,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,976,016. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $231.80. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $193.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.79 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.61, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.