PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 17.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,796 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,459 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 3.9% of PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. PICTET BANK & TRUST Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $176.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $169.03 and a 200 day moving average of $173.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.
Insider Activity
In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total value of $5,801,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.95.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Alphabet
About Alphabet
(
Free Report)
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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