Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Holdings Boosted by Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 23.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 64,017 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,014 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI's holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,001,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $96,465,000 after buying an additional 20,855 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,551,533,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 44.6% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,559 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,725,000 after buying an additional 6,033 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 10,071 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,918,000 after buying an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $186.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 215,843 shares of company stock worth $37,288,490. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $0.93 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $184.70. 21,615,710 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,546,002. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.59, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. The company's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

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.