Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. Purchases 37,609 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. by 170.0%, acquiring an additional 37,609 shares, bringing their total to 59,734 shares valued at approximately $9.24 million.
• Many institutional investors adjusted their holdings in Alphabet, with the company's stock ownership by such investors totaling 40.03%.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a yield of 0.4%, to be paid on September 15th to stockholders of record on September 8th.

Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 170.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,734 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 37,609 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.8% of Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Sprucegrove Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cresset Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 1,474,096 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $227,954,000 after buying an additional 33,109 shares in the last quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP now owns 8,522 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,318,000 after buying an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT grew its holdings in Alphabet by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 17,403 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,691,000 after buying an additional 1,948 shares in the last quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 93,449 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $14,451,000 after buying an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Endowment Management LP grew its holdings in Alphabet by 21.0% during the 1st quarter. Global Endowment Management LP now owns 12,784 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,977,000 after buying an additional 2,223 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $2.40 on Monday, reaching $208.49. 29,895,767 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 31,370,868. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $210.52. 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 capitalization of $2.52 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $187.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.28.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. BNP Paribas Exane restated a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, June 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on Alphabet from $203.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Roth Capital raised their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, June 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.79, for a total transaction of $122,274.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,316 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,287,137.64. The trade was a 8.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 254,719 shares of company stock valued at $47,223,172. Company insiders own 11.55% 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.