Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Allianz SE’s 8th Largest Position

Allianz SE lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 467,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,283 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.9% of Allianz SE’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Allianz SE’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $82,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after purchasing an additional 14,307,345 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after purchasing an additional 4,224,497 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,783,364,000 after buying an additional 4,473,901 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,749,806,000 after buying an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,481,000 after acquiring an additional 727,335 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total value of $168,036.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,264,750.96. This trade represents a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.64, for a total value of $9,640,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,304,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $683,642,180.16. This trade represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 225,174 shares of company stock valued at $58,095,223 over the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. China Renaissance increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and issued a $343.00 target price (up from $280.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, CICC Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.84.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $323.44 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $328.83. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $265.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $216.20. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.

Alphabet Company 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.