SJS Investment Consulting Inc. Has $2.03 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

SJS Investment Consulting Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,155 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,617 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.3% of SJS Investment Consulting Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. SJS Investment Consulting Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,034,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,483,898,000 after acquiring an additional 15,968,487 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 195,770 shares of company stock worth $32,036,638. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $178.60 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $161.08 and a 200-day moving average of $174.49. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.