Saudi Central Bank Invests $356,000 in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• The Saudi Central Bank has invested approximately $356,000 in Alphabet Inc. by purchasing 2,299 shares, marking it as the 6th largest position in its investment portfolio.
• Several institutional investors, including Vanguard and Deutsche Bank, have also increased their stakes in Alphabet, reflecting a growing confidence in the company's performance.
• Alphabet recently reported earnings that exceeded analyst expectations, with a net revenue of $96.43 billion and a quarterly earnings per share of $2.31, beating consensus estimates.

Saudi Central Bank bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,299 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $356,000. Alphabet comprises about 1.9% of Saudi Central Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in 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 in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,962,389,000 after buying an additional 104,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at about $4,317,606,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on Alphabet from $196.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Westpark Capital raised their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $212.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.01. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $190.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.05. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $214.65.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,559,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 254,710 shares of company stock valued at $47,225,230. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

About Alphabet

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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