Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Lifted by National Pension Service

National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 14.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 11,282,407 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,450,659 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.8% of National Pension Service's holdings, making the stock its 8th largest position. National Pension Service owned 0.09% of Alphabet worth $1,871,187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $31,086,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,700,111 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,772,991,000 after buying an additional 9,135,056 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,724,251,000 after buying an additional 7,275,757 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 116.4% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,437,957,000 after buying an additional 4,662,809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,835 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The trade was a 8.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 206,795 shares of company stock worth $34,471,141. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $172.49 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.90 and a 12-month high of $191.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.03. The company's 50-day moving average is $165.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.99 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Citigroup lifted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $170.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.90.

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.