DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,596,975 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 312,036 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.5% of DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned approximately 0.10% of Alphabet worth $1,768,401,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. FMR LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Alphabet by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,672,198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8%

GOOGL opened at $181.56 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $170.66 and a 200 day moving average of $173.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) 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, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, June 27th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. The trade was a 1.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 215,443 shares of company stock valued at $36,298,548 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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.