Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 56.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,090 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,710 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,011,412,000 after purchasing an additional 238,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,178,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,310,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429,261 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Loop Capital reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. TD Securities lifted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.76.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $157.46 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $120.21 and a 52-week high of $191.75. The business’s 50 day moving average is $167.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,213,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,588,151.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total value of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 179,367 shares of company stock valued at $30,016,931 over the last 90 days. 11.55% 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.