KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys 54,500 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,794,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,500 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.4% of KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $318,348,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley lifted its position in Alphabet by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp set a $265.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $241.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 103 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.13, for a total transaction of $25,042.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 17,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,258.92. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.44, for a total transaction of $149,664.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,425,799.04. This represents a 9.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 276,738 shares of company stock worth $59,135,475 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $242.21 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $226.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.21. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $256.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.79, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The business had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $93.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.