GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 85.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 488,222 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 225,543 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 18.5% of GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd's holdings, making the stock its largest position. GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $75,499,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Lansing Street Advisors boosted its position in Alphabet by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 10,358 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 14.7% in the first quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 22,314 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,451,000 after purchasing an additional 2,855 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,541 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $548,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. RoundAngle Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. RoundAngle Advisors LLC now owns 10,505 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,624,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, Smith Group Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Smith Group Asset Management LLC now owns 219,224 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $33,901,000 after purchasing an additional 8,707 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,695,000. This represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $1.00 on Thursday, reaching $177.62. The company had a trading volume of 29,191,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,844,307. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $169.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $205.00 price target (up from $180.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. BNP Paribas Exane reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $200.13.

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.