Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Raised by Northcape Capital Pty Ltd

Northcape Capital Pty Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 22.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,720 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,192 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.8% of Northcape Capital Pty Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Northcape Capital Pty Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,231,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $100,000. Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC now owns 481,217 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $67,221,000 after purchasing an additional 15,254 shares during the period. Seascape Capital Management boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Seascape Capital Management now owns 33,190 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,636,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. ORG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 45.3% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 13,694 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,913,000 after purchasing an additional 4,271 shares during the period. Finally, Shaker Investments LLC OH boosted its stake in Alphabet by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Shaker Investments LLC OH now owns 50,149 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,005,000 after purchasing an additional 4,915 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $3.71 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $166.67. 22,395,573 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,178,512. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $175.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $162.51. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.24, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $120.21 and a 12 month high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 12.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $222.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Loop Capital restated a "hold" rating and set a $170.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.74.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at $50,765,346. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,365 shares of company stock worth $22,936,043 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.