USS Investment Management Ltd Purchases 145,421 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

USS Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 15.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,086,101 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 145,421 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.5% of USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $205,637,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,741,000 after acquiring an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $11,816,000 after acquiring an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $189.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.8%

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $4.58 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $168.56. 73,272,789 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,410,396. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $158.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.