Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is QRG Capital Management Inc.'s 7th Largest Position

Key Points

• QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 5.2% in Q2, making it the firm's 7th largest position, valued at approximately $195 million.
• Multiple hedge funds have also boosted their stakes in Alphabet, with Vanguard Group significantly increasing its holding by 2.9% in the first quarter.
• Alphabet's stock has received multiple positive ratings from analysts, with a current consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $245.88.

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,108,407 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 54,834 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.7% of QRG Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. QRG Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $195,335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,783,364,000 after buying an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after buying an additional 593,345 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,962,389,000 after buying an additional 104,859 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Mizuho set a $295.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Roth Capital boosted their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup upped their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $245.88.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $236.57 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $226.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $188.66. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $256.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,716 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,425,799.04. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total value of $7,910,825.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,402,119 shares in the company, valued at $584,699,785.79. This trade represents a 1.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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.

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