Bell Asset Management Ltd Has $44.44 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Bell Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 24.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 318,138 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 63,107 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 6.8% of Bell Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position. Bell Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $44,441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after buying an additional 12,070,681 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,857,154,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416,328 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,316,902,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,910,194 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,876,605,000 after purchasing an additional 874,919 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $175.41 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.17 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.35 and a 52-week high of $178.77. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.78, for a total value of $3,347,550.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,310,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $343,710,216.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 205,835 shares of company stock worth $32,177,952 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $196.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Mizuho increased their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price target on Alphabet from $164.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.57.

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.