Davis Selected Advisers Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Davis Selected Advisers increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 0.8%, owning 3,039,483 shares valued at approximately $470 million, making it Alphabet's 14th largest holding in their portfolio.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed views on Alphabet, with the stock receiving a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.53, as some analysts raised their price targets while others downgraded their ratings.
• Insider selling has occurred, with CEO Sundar Pichai selling 32,500 shares for around $6.38 million, which represents a 1.29% decrease in his holdings.

Davis Selected Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,039,483 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 23,779 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.7% of Davis Selected Advisers' investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Davis Selected Advisers' holdings in Alphabet were worth $470,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Alphabet from $189.00 to $191.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $2,786,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $44,656,704. This represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total value of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 274,819 shares of company stock worth $49,796,547 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6%

Alphabet stock traded down $1.31 during trading on Monday, reaching $202.59. The company had a trading volume of 8,791,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,495,262. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.57, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $184.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.01. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

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.