Graphene Investments SAS Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Graphene Investments SAS boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 38,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,600 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 5.9% of Graphene Investments SAS’s holdings, making the stock its largest holding. Graphene Investments SAS’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,359,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $21,944,208,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after buying an additional 15,159,273 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 51.7% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after buying an additional 10,843,853 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after acquiring an additional 6,733,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Alphabet by 201.3% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,547,250 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,153,824,000 after acquiring an additional 4,374,542 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. President Capital increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $258.00 to $323.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $315.18.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $302.46 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $287.77 and a 200 day moving average of $232.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $328.83. The company has a market cap of $3.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,337,119 shares in the company, valued at $662,526,494.12. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $63,183,331. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.