American Century Companies Inc. Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,327,458 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 282,121 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.4% of American Century Companies Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.10% of Alphabet worth $2,261,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Hoese & Co LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.85, for a total transaction of $278,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 30,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,728,640.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $392,588,151.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 201,867 shares of company stock valued at $34,218,581. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Wolfe Research upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $158.37 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.46 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $169.06 and its 200-day moving average is $165.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.29, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.