LGT Capital Partners LTD. Acquires 23,998 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

LGT Capital Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,363,633 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 23,998 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 7.9% of LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. LGT Capital Partners LTD.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $226,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after acquiring an additional 238,403 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 23,465,190 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,274,184,000 after purchasing an additional 418,204 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in Alphabet by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 23,263,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,237,426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,949,476 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,700,111 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 17,520,067 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,191,561,000 after buying an additional 1,102,269 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1 %

GOOGL opened at $171.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $127.90 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.90.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. This represents a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 163,624 shares of company stock valued at $27,803,730. 11.55% 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.