iSAM Funds UK Ltd Acquires New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 9,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,592,000. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of iSAM Funds UK Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% during the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $842,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $218,000. Maia Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $5,474,000. Diversified Trust Co grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 23.7% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 241,932 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,068,000 after buying an additional 46,338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 60,629 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,044,000 after buying an additional 790 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $115,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,590,960. The trade was a 2.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. This trade represents a 1.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 198,623 shares of company stock valued at $34,413,006 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty-one have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.08.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $189.82 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.18, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $129.68 and a one year high of $195.61. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $171.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $170.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.