Global X Japan Co. Ltd. Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Global X Japan Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 171,105 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 15,165 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.0% of Global X Japan Co. Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Global X Japan Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 7,574,417 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in 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 buying an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in 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 buying an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock traded down $6.68 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $166.64. 75,073,701 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,587,197. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $164.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $174.73. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total transaction of $5,742,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,555,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $451,452,029.28. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 228,070 shares of company stock valued at $37,745,632. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet 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.