Guinness Asset Management LTD Buys 12,386 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Guinness Asset Management LTD increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 5.3% in Q1, owning 246,867 shares valued at approximately $38.17 million after acquiring an additional 12,386 shares.
• Alphabet's latest quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $2.31 EPS on revenues of $96.43 billion, beating analyst forecasts.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a yield of 0.3%, scheduled for payment on September 15th.

Guinness Asset Management LTD raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 246,867 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 12,386 shares during the quarter. Guinness Asset Management LTD's holdings in Alphabet were worth $38,173,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,509,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 79,160 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $14,985,000 after buying an additional 4,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Triumph Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 5,470 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,036,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $240.37 on Friday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $200.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $242.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total transaction of $6,497,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,462,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. This trade represents a 1.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 254,710 shares of company stock worth $49,208,380 in the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Guggenheim raised their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. JMP Securities raised their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $221.44.

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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