Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by Ninety One UK Ltd

Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,531,625 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 528,130 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.7% of Ninety One UK Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Ninety One UK Ltd owned approximately 0.05% of Alphabet worth $912,403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Cooper Financial Group grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 46,144 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,534 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 307.7% during the third quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 40,717 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,328,000 after purchasing an additional 30,729 shares during the period. Johnson Bixby & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $213,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 54.9% during the third quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 6,636 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $868,000 after purchasing an additional 2,351 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.6% in the third quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 123,196 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $16,121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,995 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Raymond James upped their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Susquehanna upped their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp increased their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $187.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 660 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 660 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $15.95 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $171.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 64,637,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,650,268. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $103.54 and a 1-year high of $174.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The company's 50-day moving average is $147.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.39.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

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.