Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Purchases 12,305 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,056,116 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,305 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.0% of Royal London Asset Management Ltd.'s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $391,567,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,193,768,000 after buying an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,247,208,000 after purchasing an additional 259,213 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 10.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,824,307 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,870,181,000 after purchasing an additional 875,480 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 9.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

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Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

GOOG stock traded up $1.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $166.25. The stock had a trading volume of 29,845,831 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,854,573. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $148.20 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50-day moving average of $184.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $178.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark reiterated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $209.13.

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.