Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Boosts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,588,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 95,330 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 3.5% of Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,436,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,598,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $273,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 27.9% in the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,516 shares during the period. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $154.33 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.22 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 87,992 shares of company stock valued at $16,097,111 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

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.