Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Quilter Plc's 7th Largest Position

Quilter Plc reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 12.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 895,826 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 126,547 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.9% of Quilter Plc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Quilter Plc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $138,531,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,483,898,000 after purchasing an additional 15,968,487 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.95.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. This trade represents a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 183,143 shares of company stock valued at $30,529,028 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $179.08. The company had a trading volume of 21,689,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,462,867. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $167.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.20.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

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.