Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Axa S.A.’s 6th Largest Position

Axa S.A. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,075,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 122,339 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.8% of Axa S.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Axa S.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $582,245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,164 shares of company stock worth $25,357,390 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $164.03 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $160.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.34. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.46.

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.