Swiss National Bank Has $3.13 Billion Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Swiss National Bank trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,551,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 883,800 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.1% of Swiss National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.14% of Alphabet worth $3,133,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in Alphabet by 6.8% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 728,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $120,834,000 after buying an additional 46,677 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 3.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,871,384,000 after buying an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,304 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,377,000 after acquiring an additional 1,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Round Rock Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Round Rock Advisors LLC now owns 9,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,546,000 after acquiring an additional 649 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given 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 $210.59.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $167.68 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $182.10 and its 200 day moving average is $176.73. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $147.22 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $3,961,445.55. This trade represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.