Markel Group Inc. Has $86.13 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Markel Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 557,000 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $86,134,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Sachetta LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 46.9% in the 1st quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 4,482 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $693,000 after acquiring an additional 1,431 shares during the last quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in 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. Hardy Reed LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Hardy Reed LLC now owns 50,972 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,882,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 1,671,841 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $258,533,000 after buying an additional 162,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 71.7% during the 1st quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 135,952 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $21,024,000 after purchasing an additional 56,792 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $211.32.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $193.18. 39,738,342 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 41,427,228. The company has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.57, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The business has a 50-day moving average of $175.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's 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. The trade was 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 249,409 shares of company stock worth $43,523,710 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.