E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 461.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,111 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 913 shares during the period. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $172,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total value of $5,742,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,555,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $451,452,029.28. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 216,195 shares of company stock valued at $35,764,898. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.9%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $178.53 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $166.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.52.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “market perform” rating to a “market outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-seven have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.95.

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.