Ninety One North America Inc. Has $39.29 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ninety One North America Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 7.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 254,050 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 20,046 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 2.6% of Ninety One North America Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Ninety One North America Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $39,286,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $42,000. Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. EQ Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $0.44 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $182.00. The company had a trading volume of 33,367,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,985,564. The firm's fifty day moving average is $170.66 and its 200 day moving average is $173.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. BNP Paribas Exane restated a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $205.00 price objective (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.82.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 215,443 shares of company stock valued at $36,298,548 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.55% 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.