Scharf Investments LLC Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Scharf Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 563 shares during the period. Scharf Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,723,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,441,917,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its position in Alphabet by 39,754.9% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $841,725,000 after buying an additional 6,010,548 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4,894.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,606,670,000 after buying an additional 5,336,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $407,367,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total value of $105,566.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,532,870.36. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.79, for a total transaction of $105,566.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,532,870.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,284 shares of company stock worth $24,534,393 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.66.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $182.15 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $115.35 and a one year high of $186.05. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $172.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $154.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.