Rovida Advisors Inc. Purchases 23,750 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• Rovida Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 22.4% during the first quarter, purchasing an additional 23,750 shares, bringing its total to 130,000 shares valued at approximately $20.09 million.
• Citigroup raised its target price on Alphabet shares from $203.00 to $225.00 while maintaining a "buy" rating, highlighting a bullish sentiment among analysts.
• Alphabet has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a payout date set for September 15th, reflecting a yield of 0.4%.

Rovida Advisors Inc. grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 22.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,000 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 23,750 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 15.0% of Rovida Advisors Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Rovida Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,090,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after buying an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Athena Investment Management grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Athena Investment Management now owns 4,914 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $23,196,000. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 18.4% in the 1st quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,546 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $703,000 after buying an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 39,670 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,135,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Loop Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $190.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $211.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director owned 243,400 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 274,819 shares of company stock worth $49,796,547. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $203.90 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market cap of $2.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50-day moving average of $184.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.20. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. 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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