Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 13.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 822,998 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 97,618 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $150,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 9.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,716,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,355,724,000 after purchasing an additional 7,470,042 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,171,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,815,986,000 after buying an additional 13,876,534 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 45,731,826 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,963,128,000 after buying an additional 979,083 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 35,558,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,414,179,000 after buying an additional 684,968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,101,040,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares in the company, valued at $392,588,151.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 201,867 shares of company stock valued at $34,218,581. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.2 %

GOOG opened at $155.54 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $121.46 and a one year high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $169.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.86, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.