Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $725.76 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 11.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,645,437 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 458,847 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.2% of Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $725,757,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $204.88.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $0.80 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $177.99. The company had a trading volume of 8,138,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,417,671. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $163.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.21. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The business's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet 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.