Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Pershing Square Capital Management increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 11.3%, holding 4,437,980 shares worth approximately $686 million, making it the firm's 8th largest position.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.4%, set to be paid on September 15th.
• Recent earnings revealed that Alphabet's EPS of $2.31 exceeded analysts' expectations, contributing to a revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter.

Pershing Square Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 11.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,437,980 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 451,492 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 5.8% of Pershing Square Capital Management L.P.'s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Pershing Square Capital Management L.P.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $686,289,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $4,317,606,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,593,201,000 after purchasing an additional 7,774,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,375,509,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $2.70 during trading on Friday, hitting $235.00. 46,562,292 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 34,085,072. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.01. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $195.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.35. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $235.76.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. BNP Paribas lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Loop Capital restated a "hold" rating and set a $190.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $222.33.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,287,137.64. This represents a 8.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $49,208,380. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.