Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,996,744 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $377,984,000. Alphabet accounts for about 4.5% of Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $14,197,000. Northstar Financial Companies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $1,269,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 62,856 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $11,899,000 after buying an additional 1,316 shares during the period. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $1,014,000. Finally, Campbell Deegan Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $536,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $2.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $169.73. 52,598,920 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,980,356. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 164,533 shares of company stock worth $26,772,774 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

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.