Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Holdings Increased by Ariose Capital Management Ltd

Ariose Capital Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 89.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 135,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 63,600 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 15.2% of Ariose Capital Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Ariose Capital Management Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 509,826,331 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $78,839,544,000 after buying an additional 14,307,345 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.4% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 43,865,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,783,364,000 after buying an additional 4,473,901 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,648,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,749,806,000 after buying an additional 593,345 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.9% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 39,792,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,153,481,000 after buying an additional 727,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,556,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,962,389,000 after buying an additional 104,859 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,527,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $466,000,536.96. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total transaction of $4,637,754.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,371,905.30. This trade represents a 35.65% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock valued at $59,135,475. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3%

GOOGL opened at $245.69 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $220.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $185.22. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $256.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Citizens Jmp lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-two have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $240.76.

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.