LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. by 8.5% in the second quarter, owning 163,785 shares after selling 15,196 shares.
• Alphabet declared a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their positions in Alphabet, including Vanguard Group, which grew its holdings by 2.9%.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 163,785 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 15,196 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.5% of LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $28,864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after acquiring an additional 14,307,345 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,783,364,000 after acquiring an additional 4,473,901 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,749,806,000 after acquiring an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,153,481,000 after acquiring an additional 727,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,962,389,000 after acquiring an additional 104,859 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $236.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The business's 50-day moving average is $226.31 and its 200-day moving average is $188.66. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $256.00.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were paid 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 was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $236.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $245.88.

Alphabet 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.

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