Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 101,993 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 6.6% in the first quarter, acquiring an additional 101,993 shares for a total value of approximately $256 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Nuveen LLC and GAMMA Investing LLC, have significantly increased their investments in Alphabet, with GAMMA's holdings soaring by 18,562.3%.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share to be paid on September 15, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 0.4%.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,638,784 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 101,993 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.5% of Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $255,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $2,622,943,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,237,733,000 after acquiring an additional 14,246,573 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after acquiring an additional 9,687,855 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243,959 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Piper Sandler reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $215.19.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 274,219 shares of company stock worth $49,674,273. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $201.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $182.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.47, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. The company's revenue was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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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