Ninety One UK Ltd Purchases 473,357 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 5.5%, acquiring an additional 473,357 shares, raising its total ownership to over 9 million shares.
• Alphabet's recent quarterly earnings beat analyst expectations with an EPS of $2.31, surpassing estimates of $2.15, and reported revenues of $96.43 billion.
• The company recently declared a $0.21 quarterly dividend, translating to an annualized rate of $0.84 and a 0.3% dividend yield for shareholders.

Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,042,177 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 473,357 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 3.7% of Ninety One UK Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Ninety One UK Ltd owned 0.07% of Alphabet worth $1,593,503,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 11.4% during the first 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 buying an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,749,806,000 after buying an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first 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 buying an additional 104,859 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $290.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Moffett Nathanson upped their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $270.00 price objective (up previously from $235.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $242.98.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $245.76 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $256.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The business's fifty day moving average price is $223.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $187.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.95%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at $558,219,089.16. This represents a 1.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. This represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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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