Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stake Increased by City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd.

City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 23.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 198,167 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,549 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 3.2% of City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,917,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gimbal Financial lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the second quarter. Gimbal Financial now owns 2,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $489,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the second quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 16,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,981,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Silver Coast Investments LLC now owns 4,317 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $761,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 6,477 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,141,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 10,428 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,838,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $9,640,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,304,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $683,642,180.16. This trade represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total transaction of $168,036.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,264,750.96. This trade represents a 11.73% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 225,072 shares of company stock valued at $58,074,027 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. HSBC boosted their price target on Alphabet from $295.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Melius Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $307.84.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $319.95 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $267.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $217.64. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.86 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $328.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 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.