Jackson Square Partners LLC Has $10.60 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Jackson Square Partners LLC has reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 4.2%, selling 3,022 shares, resulting in ownership of 68,511 shares valued at approximately $10.6 million.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their stakes in Alphabet, with GAMMA Investing LLC growing its position by an astonishing 16,993.2%, acquiring over 16 million shares during the first quarter.
• Alphabet recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share to be paid on September 15th, marking an annualized yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.

Jackson Square Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 68,511 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,022 shares during the quarter. Jackson Square Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mystic Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co grew its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,187,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 4.1% during the first quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,213,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the period. Finally, Optivise Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 274,819 shares of company stock valued at $49,796,547 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $0.93 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $202.97. 8,120,594 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,489,773. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $184.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's 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.