Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 101.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,529 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 30,913 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Sit Investment Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 286,181 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $44,255,000 after purchasing an additional 10,218 shares during the last quarter. Holderness Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 43,264 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,690,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 6,490,867 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,002,863,000 after purchasing an additional 406,565 shares during the last quarter. Turiya Advisors Asia Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at $65,165,000. Finally, E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 39.4% in the 1st quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 136,737 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $21,145,000 after purchasing an additional 38,659 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,999 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total value of $6,377,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,494,892 shares in the company, valued at approximately $489,572,657.16. The trade was a 1.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 242,319 shares of company stock worth $44,243,272 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Loop Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $190.00 price target (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Roth Capital upped their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citizens Jmp raised Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.53.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $201.57 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.01. The business's 50-day moving average is $185.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.20. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96,428,000 billion for 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%. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.95%.

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.

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