SSA Swiss Advisors AG Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Key Points

• SSA Swiss Advisors AG acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc., purchasing 21,930 shares valued at approximately $3.4 million, representing 1.7% of the fund's holdings.
• Multiple institutional investors increased their stakes in Alphabet during the first quarter, with Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosting its investment by 242.9%.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with an annualized yield of 0.4%, to be paid on September 15th to shareholders of record on September 8th.

SSA Swiss Advisors AG purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 21,930 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,395,000. Alphabet comprises about 1.7% of SSA Swiss Advisors AG's holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Elite Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $42,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at $45,213,984. The trade was a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was 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 $456,991,919.84. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 273,219 shares of company stock worth $49,474,273. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $192.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $196.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $179.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. As a group, analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be paid 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 is currently 8.95%.

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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