Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 10.6% during the 1st quarter, acquiring over 404,000 additional shares, bringing its total holdings to 4.23 million shares, valued at approximately $656 million.
• Alphabet recently reported earnings of $2.31 per share, exceeding estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share to be paid on September 15th.
• Analyst ratings for Alphabet remain positive, with 29 analysts holding a buy rating, and recent price targets raised to a high of $240 by Tigress Financial.

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 10.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,238,257 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 404,987 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.7% of Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $656,195,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Perritt Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Perritt Capital Management Inc now owns 618 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. Nia Impact Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Nia Impact Advisors LLC now owns 17,161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,249,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,553 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $673,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Enzi Wealth increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Enzi Wealth now owns 2,561 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 5,438 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $817,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Loop Capital reissued a "hold" rating and set a $190.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $217.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $201.42 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $180.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.15. The company has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.45, a PEG ratio of 1.33 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,494,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $489,572,657.16. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 273,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,474,273 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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.

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