Generate Investment Management Ltd Acquires 20,752 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Generate Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 10.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 219,377 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 20,752 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.4% of Generate Investment Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Generate Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $33,924,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $830,000 after acquiring an additional 1,119 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,490,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $154,716,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp raised shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $203.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.95.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $0.57 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $179.21. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,566,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,462,415. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $167.96 and a 200-day moving average of $174.20. 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 has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,620,196 shares in the company, valued at $447,712,890.52. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 183,143 shares of company stock worth $30,529,028 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company 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.