Eschler Asset Management LLP Has $3.65 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Eschler Asset Management LLP raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,519 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 8.6% of Eschler Asset Management LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Eschler Asset Management LLP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,646,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 146,824 shares of company stock valued at $25,086,603. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $154.28 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. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day moving average of $159.29 and a 200 day moving average of $175.18.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.