Covea Finance Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Covea Finance boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 467,060 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,560 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.1% of Covea Finance’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Covea Finance’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $82,310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the 1st quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. BNP Paribas lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Westpark Capital upped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Alphabet from $240.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (up from $165.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-three have issued a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $233.44.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $246.54 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.26, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $256.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $215.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $183.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.95%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This trade represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 23,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.70, for a total value of $4,637,754.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,999 shares in the company, valued at $8,371,905.30. The trade was a 35.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 258,088 shares of company stock valued at $52,405,304 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.