Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank

Key Points

• Zurcher Kantonalbank increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 25.2% during Q1, owning approximately 3.16 million shares valued at $493.58 million, making it the fund’s 10th largest holding.
• Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold over 18,500 shares of Alphabet on July 18, representing a 7.09% decrease in his ownership, while CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares on July 2, reducing his stake by 1.25%.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for Alphabet, with a target price of $215.19, and the firm reported a quarterly revenue of $96.43 billion, exceeding expectations.

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 25.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,159,325 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 634,924 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.4% of Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank's holdings in Alphabet were worth $493,581,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after buying an additional 14,246,573 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 33,504,543 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,380,605,000 after purchasing an additional 4,247,379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $786,942,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $1.37 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $197.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,868,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,243,752. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $178.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.53. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 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 $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 249,298 shares of company stock valued at $43,505,967 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.