Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd

Key Points

• IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 8.8% in the first quarter, making it the firm's 4th largest holding valued at approximately $21.67 million.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21, yielding 0.4%, which will be paid on September 15 to investors of record on September 8.
• After the latest earnings report, several brokerages raised their price targets for Alphabet, with Piper Sandler increasing theirs from $195 to $220, reflecting strong market sentiment around the company's performance.

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 8.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 140,156 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 11,278 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.5% of IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Tiller Private Wealth Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 20.7% during the 1st quarter. Tiller Private Wealth Inc. now owns 3,978 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 683 shares during the period. MWA Asset Management grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.7% during the first quarter. MWA Asset Management now owns 2,481 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.3% during the first quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC now owns 4,262 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $659,000 after buying an additional 564 shares during the period. Haverford Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 32.5% during the first quarter. Haverford Financial Services Inc. now owns 59,992 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,277,000 after buying an additional 14,708 shares during the period. Finally, ING Groep NV raised its holdings in Alphabet by 81.3% in the first quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 3,728,880 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $576,634,000 after acquiring an additional 1,672,094 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.5%

Alphabet stock opened at $201.42 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's fifty day moving average is $180.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.80. 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:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total transaction of $6,377,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $489,572,657.16. This trade represents a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 273,219 shares of company stock worth $49,474,273 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.

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