Value Partners Investments Inc. Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Value Partners Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 936.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 452,457 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 408,802 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 6.0% of Value Partners Investments Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Value Partners Investments Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $70,044,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.95.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $0.97 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $176.81. The stock had a trading volume of 6,933,725 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,360,939. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $167.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.17. The stock has a market cap of $2.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.71, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.00.

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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.87, for a total transaction of $5,553,275.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,620,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $447,712,890.52. This represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 183,143 shares of company stock worth $30,529,028 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet 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.