Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stake Boosted by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,640,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,083,647 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.2% of Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.33% of Alphabet worth $6,985,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after acquiring an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.1% during the 2nd 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 last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st 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 valued at $6,783,364,000 after purchasing an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 593,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $317.62 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $328.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $274.65 and a 200 day moving average of $223.02. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Rosenblatt Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective (up from $285.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 target price (up previously from $245.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Roth Capital increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $312.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $680,610.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 17,293 shares in the company, valued at $4,236,785. This trade represents a 13.84% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total value of $7,910,825.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,402,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $584,699,785.79. This represents a 1.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 193,628 shares of company stock worth $50,942,622. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.