Handelsbanken Fonder AB Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,864,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 105,132 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.9% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $400,103,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after acquiring an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 4,894.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,606,670,000 after purchasing an additional 5,336,359 shares during the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $634,465,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $601,545,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $407,367,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 253,209 shares of company stock valued at $36,711,144 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $166.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.71 and a 52-week high of $174.71. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.62.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. JMP Securities lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $189.44.

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.