Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is AustralianSuper Pty Ltd's 6th Largest Position

Key Points

• AustralianSuper Pty Ltd reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 57.6% in Q1, holding approximately 2.1% of its portfolio, which valued at about $374 million.
• Alphabet reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, exceeding estimates of $2.02, despite revenues falling short at $76.49 billion compared to the expected $89.30 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which will be paid on September 15th, representing an annualized yield of 0.43%.

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 57.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,420,212 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,282,635 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 2.1% of AustralianSuper Pty Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $374,262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Elite Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, EQ Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $193.18 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $172.93. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share 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 given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 249,409 shares of company stock valued at $43,523,710 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wedbush upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Roth Capital upped their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Guggenheim upped their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.32.

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.

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