Artemis Investment Management LLP Acquires 4,678 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 440,493 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,678 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $68,118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $0.44 on Friday, hitting $179.08. 21,689,729 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,590,492. The firm has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.87. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas Exane reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.95.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,695,000. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock worth $36,330,928 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company 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.