Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by Ninety One UK Ltd

Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,568,820 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 74,775 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 3.7% of Ninety One UK Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Ninety One UK Ltd owned about 0.07% of Alphabet worth $1,325,082,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Burt Wealth Advisors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,005,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. Perritt Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Alphabet by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Nia Impact Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,249,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $673,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Enzi Wealth lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $408,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $1.77 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $183.77. The stock had a trading volume of 21,606,519 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,949,017. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $171.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.48, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 182,943 shares of company stock worth $31,223,348. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $189.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Ten 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.24.

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.