IFM Investors Pty Ltd Acquires 100,670 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 10.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,090,979 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 100,670 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.8% of IFM Investors Pty Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $182,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% during the first quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the first quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at $447,712,890.52. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $180.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,287,389 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,210,158. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $169.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.49. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.09, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.38.

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.