Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.

China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 33.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,868 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 20,861 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.2% of China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest position. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,946,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 39.3% during the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 14,907 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,329,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $824,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $281,000. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 9,771 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,527,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and six have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $206.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total value of $5,553,275.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,620,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $447,712,890.52. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $177.56 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $170.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.29. The firm has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.01.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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.

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