Ballentine Partners LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 144,487 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,263 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.5% of Ballentine Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,318,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,011,412,000 after buying an additional 238,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,178,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,310,925,000 after buying an additional 1,429,261 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $200.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $222.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.08.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,262 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.99, for a total transaction of $600,175.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,655.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares in the company, valued at $339,713,977.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 180,167 shares of company stock worth $29,762,606 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $163.59 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $164.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $165.55. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced 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 $70.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 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 issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.