Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 0.9% in Q2, acquiring an additional 13,272 shares, bringing their total to approximately $272 million.
• Analysts have a generally positive outlook on Alphabet, with an average price target of $233.44 and many firms upgrading their ratings throughout the year.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, reflecting a 0.3% annual yield, and insiders have sold significant shares in recent transactions.

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,544,731 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 13,272 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 5.8% of Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG's holdings in Alphabet were worth $272,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Mystic Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% in the first quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,791 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,187,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Cypress Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,213,000 after acquiring an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 17.9% during the 1st quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 88,187 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,371 shares during the period. Finally, Alaethes Wealth LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 7,646 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,182,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $233.44.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $244.05 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $256.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $217.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $183.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total value of $149,664.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,716 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,425,799.04. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total value of $680,610.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 17,293 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,236,785. The trade was a 13.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 257,866 shares of company stock worth $52,363,610. Company 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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