Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Banco Santander S.A.’s 9th Largest Position

Banco Santander S.A. lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 652,121 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,139 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.5% of Banco Santander S.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $118,784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 55.4% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 214,443 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,956,000 after purchasing an additional 76,410 shares during the last quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $787,000. New Hampshire Trust raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.7% in the second quarter. New Hampshire Trust now owns 43,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,963,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Matisse Capital lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 16,781 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,344,000 after buying an additional 2,026 shares during the period. Finally, Berkshire Money Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $359,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $339,160,251.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total value of $3,570,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares in the company, valued at $339,160,251.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total value of $266,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 178,032 shares of company stock worth $29,854,224 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $196.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $222.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $206.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $202.81.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $150.92 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $120.21 and a twelve month high of $191.75. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $170.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $164.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

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.