Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. Sells 17,000 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 43.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,000 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 17,000 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.8% of Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the first quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,400,000 after buying an additional 1,791 shares during the period. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,187,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the period. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the first quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,213,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the period. Finally, Optivise Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $201.57 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $185.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.47, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,494,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $489,572,657.16. This trade represents a 1.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 242,319 shares of company stock worth $44,243,272. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

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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