Handelsbanken Fonder AB Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,948,138 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,286 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.8% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $519,550,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after acquiring an additional 6,733,278 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in 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 during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased 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 worth $6,749,806,000 after purchasing an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,153,481,000 after purchasing an additional 727,335 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $343.00 target price (up previously from $280.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. New Street Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $294.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $312.06.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $315.81 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $328.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $271.77 and a 200 day moving average of $221.67. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.15, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. 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 (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,304,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $683,642,180.16. This trade represents a 1.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.06, for a total value of $168,036.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,516 shares in the company, valued at $1,264,750.96. The trade was a 11.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 193,628 shares of company stock valued at $50,942,622. Corporate 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.