Ashburton Jersey Ltd Takes $23.68 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ashburton Jersey Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 128,358 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $23,681,000. Alphabet comprises about 10.0% of Ashburton Jersey Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $37,000. HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $183.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $167.31 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.66, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $121.46 and a 12-month high of $193.31. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.50.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total value of $114,576.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at $5,264,112. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,264,112. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 217,592 shares of company stock valued at $35,922,911 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.