Swedbank AB Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• Swedbank AB increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 12.2% during the first quarter, acquiring an additional 1,036,051 shares and making it the bank's 7th largest stock position, representing about 2.0% of its portfolio.
• Alphabet's quarterly earnings exceeded estimates, with a reported EPS of $2.31 and revenue of $96.43 billion, reflecting a 13.8% year-over-year increase.
• Insider transactions showed notable sales, including CEO Sundar Pichai selling 32,500 shares, which decreased his ownership by 1.29%, while insiders collectively sold 273,219 shares valued at approximately $49.5 million in the last ninety days.

Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 12.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,519,121 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,036,051 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.0% of Swedbank AB's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Swedbank AB owned approximately 0.08% of Alphabet worth $1,487,172,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 102,232,997 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,971,861,000 after buying an additional 9,243,959 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. The trade was a 6.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total transaction of $6,377,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $489,572,657.16. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 273,219 shares of company stock valued at $49,474,273. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $202.11 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.52, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $181.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - 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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $215.19.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.