Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Buys 57,531 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,043,811 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,531 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.8% of Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $341,705,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. BDF Gestion acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $44,610,000. CCM Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth $223,000. OLD National Bancorp IN lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.4% in the second quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 38,934 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285 shares during the period. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.7% in the second quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 38,027 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,975,000 after purchasing an additional 1,359 shares during the period. Finally, Shira Ridge Wealth Management lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.4% in the second quarter. Shira Ridge Wealth Management now owns 15,490 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,841,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Pivotal Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $176.09 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $129.73 and a 12-month high of $193.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 163,624 shares of company stock worth $27,803,730 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.