Handelsbanken Fonder AB Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,047,201 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 304,319 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.9% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $540,543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley increased its position in Alphabet by 60.0% during the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% in the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Fairman Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 121.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,629,725.80. The trade was a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 195,452 shares of company stock valued at $49,255,209 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $289.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.60, 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $306.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $261.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $212.97.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 36.08%. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOG. DA Davidson set a $825.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, October 27th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $300.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America raised their price target on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.81.

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.