OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd Acquires 1,510 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• Oversea Chinese Banking Corp Ltd increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 1.8% in Q1, resulting in ownership of 85,001 shares valued at $13.27 million.
• Several institutional investors have significantly boosted their stakes in Alphabet recently, with Northern Trust Corp leading with a 16.1% increase in their holdings.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 0.4% and a payout ratio of 8.95%.

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 85,001 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,510 shares during the quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,270,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 111.8% in the first quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 161 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $26,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Graybill Wealth Management LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $2.91 during trading on Friday, reaching $189.95. The stock had a trading volume of 21,211,425 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,077,368. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.31 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $179.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.53.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total transaction of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total value of $5,992,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,527,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 249,399 shares of company stock worth $43,525,794. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Lake Street Capital reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

Alphabet Company 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.