Maseco LLP Acquires New Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Maseco LLP acquired a new stake of 4,137 shares in Alphabet Inc. valued at approximately $729,000 in the 2nd quarter.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds now own 40.03% of Alphabet's stock, with significant increases from firms like Vanguard Group Inc. and UBS AM.
• Recent analyst upgrades have seen price targets for Alphabet raised, including Citigroup adjusting theirs from $225.00 to $280.00, reflecting a broad optimism about the stock's prospects.

Maseco LLP acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,137 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $729,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 727,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 104,859 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 15,000 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $2,786,400.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 240,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,656,704. This trade represents a 5.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total value of $149,664.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,716 shares in the company, valued at $1,425,799.04. The trade was a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 258,088 shares of company stock valued at $52,405,304 over the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $233.44.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $246.54 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average is $215.93 and its 200-day moving average is $183.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $256.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

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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