Ninety One UK Ltd Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,531,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 528,130 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.7% of Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Ninety One UK Ltd owned 0.05% of Alphabet worth $912,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Meritage Group LP lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the 3rd quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 165.8% in the third quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA grew its position in Alphabet by 301.5% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 522 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $156.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $102.63 and a 52-week high of $160.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $147.22 and a 200 day moving average of $141.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Mizuho boosted their target price on Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Roth Mkm cut their price objective on Alphabet from $166.00 to $164.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $144.00 to $141.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $158.71.

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.