Krane Funds Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Krane Funds Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 135.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,099 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,937 shares during the period. Krane Funds Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $789,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,490,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 506 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho lowered their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Ten 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, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $200.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at $44,695,000. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $1.00 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $177.62. 29,191,793 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 31,845,344. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business's 50-day moving average price is $169.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.69. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company 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 business posted $1.89 EPS. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Alphabet Company 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.