Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $554.38 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,928,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 120,381 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.1% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $554,378,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dixon Fnancial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18.6% during the third quarter. Dixon Fnancial Services Inc. now owns 2,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. now owns 3,549 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $589,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the third quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 145,796 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,745 shares during the last quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.5% during the third quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 14,683 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,435,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grassi Investment Management raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Grassi Investment Management now owns 55,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,316 shares of company stock valued at $25,062,887 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. DZ Bank downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $170.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $189.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.