Fisher Funds Management LTD Has $173.38 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Fisher Funds Management LTD lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 983,825 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,202 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 4.1% of Fisher Funds Management LTD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Fisher Funds Management LTD’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $173,379,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% during the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $265.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $306.00 price target (up previously from $255.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $260.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-seven have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.10.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.73, for a total transaction of $7,466,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,429,892 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $558,219,089.16. This represents a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 221,796 shares of company stock worth $53,983,001 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.6%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $286.71 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $292.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $255.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $207.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Alphabet 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.