Prudential PLC Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Prudential PLC boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 405,168 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 21,752 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 0.5% of Prudential PLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $73,801,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 59,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,259,000 after acquiring an additional 907 shares during the last quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC now owns 148,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,692,000 after acquiring an additional 5,730 shares during the last quarter. Brady Family Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Brady Family Wealth LLC now owns 65,433 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,140,000 after acquiring an additional 5,367 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $272,000. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,070,862 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $708,349,000 after acquiring an additional 934,817 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.47, for a total transaction of $125,126.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 30,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,623,355.50. 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 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.08.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $163.59 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $120.21 and a one year high of $191.75. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $164.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.09, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.