Silphium Asset Management Ltd Has $3.39 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Silphium Asset Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 20.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,696 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.7% of Silphium Asset Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Silphium Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth 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. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,483,898,000 after purchasing an additional 15,968,487 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $172.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,575,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 255,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,695,000. This trade represents a 3.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 182,943 shares of company stock valued at $31,223,348. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $182.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $171.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.