Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Has $537.91 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,841,578 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 152,420 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 4.4% of Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $537,911,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Burt Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’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 transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $166.54 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.69, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $158.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.00. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.