Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 7.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 778,078 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 51,636 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.2% of J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in Alphabet were worth $120,334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Loop Capital reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. The trade was a 6.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 273,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,474,273 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $201.42 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $180.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $172.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.45, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.

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