Artemis Investment Management LLP Acquires 4,678 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Artemis Investment Management LLP raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 440,493 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,678 shares during the quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $68,118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning raised its stake in Alphabet by 15.7% during the first quarter. Falcon Wealth Planning now owns 9,898 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,531,000 after buying an additional 1,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its stake in Alphabet by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,816,000 after buying an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6%

Alphabet stock opened at $178.64 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $167.96 and a 200 day moving average of $174.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,192,275. This represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 9,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,575,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 255,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,695,000. The trade was a 3.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 183,143 shares of company stock worth $30,529,028 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.