Herald Investment Management Ltd Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Herald Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 7.0%, purchasing an additional 3,300 shares for a total of 50,200 shares, making it the 22nd largest holding in their portfolio.
• Several analysts have upgraded their price targets for Alphabet, with Royal Bank of Canada and Barclays setting targets at $220.00 and $235.00 respectively, indicating positive sentiment in the market.
• Alphabet declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, which will be paid on September 15th, representing an annual yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Herald Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 7.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,200 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.5% of Herald Investment Management Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Herald Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,758,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Ten equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.53.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 274,819 shares of company stock worth $49,796,547 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $202.94 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $183.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.30. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $96,428,000 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%. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.

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