The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 1.9% during the first quarter, now owning approximately $2.46 billion worth of shares.
• Several large investors, including Vanguard Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG, increased their stakes in Alphabet during the first quarter, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, reflecting a dividend yield of 0.4%, to be paid on September 15th for investors of record on September 8th.

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,886,440 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 315,360 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.3% of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.13% of Alphabet worth $2,456,673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Alphabet by 307.6% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,593,201,000 after buying an additional 7,774,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $1,375,509,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,656,704. The trade was a 5.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were 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 directly owned 2,462,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. This represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock worth $47,225,230. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $1.27 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $212.91. 39,702,089 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,138,272. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $190.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.96. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $214.65. The stock has a market cap of $2.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 currently 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.