Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Acquires 33,147 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 926,034 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 33,147 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.5% of Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $143,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 85.9% during the 1st quarter. GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd now owns 488,222 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $75,499,000 after acquiring an additional 225,543 shares during the period. Lansing Street Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 10,358 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 22,314 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,451,000 after acquiring an additional 2,855 shares during the period. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Sterling Group Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,541 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $548,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, RoundAngle Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. RoundAngle Advisors LLC now owns 10,505 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,624,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $2.43 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $174.36. The company had a trading volume of 40,387,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,635,871. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $169.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.67. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Alphabet from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas Exane reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $200.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,192,275. The trade was a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $5,801,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 sold 215,643 shares of company stock valued at $36,330,928. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company 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.