Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 7,774,811 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 307.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,302,644 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,774,811 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.7% of Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.08% of Alphabet worth $1,593,201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $51,000. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $1.65 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $175.70. The company had a trading volume of 20,879,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,364,105. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $161.71 and a 200-day moving average of $174.51. The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.83, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 195,570 shares of company stock worth $32,003,532. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $189.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

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.