Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,627,589 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 169,800 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.4% of Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $406,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. FMR LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Alphabet by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $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.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.95.
Get Our Latest Report on GOOGL
Alphabet Stock Up 2.9%
Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $4.99 on Friday, hitting $178.53. 107,974,317 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 31,238,454. The firm's 50-day moving average is $166.45 and its 200 day moving average is $174.52. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.
Insider Activity at Alphabet
In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 216,195 shares of company stock valued at $35,764,898 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Alphabet Company Profile
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Free Report)
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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