Aberdeen Group plc Buys 1,918,288 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Aberdeen Group plc increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 32.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,858,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,918,288 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.4% of Aberdeen Group plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.06% of Alphabet worth $1,206,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,454 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,791 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co now owns 27,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,187,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $3,119,000. Cypress Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% in the first quarter. Cypress Capital LLC now owns 14,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,213,000 after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the period. Finally, Falcon Wealth Planning boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the first quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,898 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,340 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.53.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.1%

GOOGL opened at $199.32 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.38.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $96,428,000 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,559,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $456,991,919.84. This trade represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 222,219 shares of company stock worth $40,725,772. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.