Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Eschler Asset Management LLP’s 3rd Largest Position

Eschler Asset Management LLP raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 19,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,519 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 8.6% of Eschler Asset Management LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Eschler Asset Management LLP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,646,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,871,384,000 after acquiring an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,455,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 8,665 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,640,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 146,824 shares of company stock worth $25,086,603 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $154.28 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $159.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.18. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Alphabet 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.