ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,612 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,630 shares during the quarter. ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,911,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kovack Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 90,521 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,013,000 after buying an additional 4,037 shares in the last quarter. Parthenon LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Parthenon LLC now owns 168,252 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,905,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares during the last quarter. Arjuna Capital boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 102,574 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,012,000 after acquiring an additional 706 shares during the last quarter. Saturna Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 1,430,995 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $237,331,000 after acquiring an additional 4,003 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simmons Bank boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Simmons Bank now owns 98,562 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,347,000 after acquiring an additional 2,605 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America lifted their price target on Alphabet from $206.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. DA Davidson started coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 target price (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Alphabet from $217.00 to $208.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $169.23 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $168.22 and its 200 day moving average is $170.34. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $127.90 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.44, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 206,795 shares of company stock valued at $34,673,866. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.