XTX Topco Ltd Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

XTX Topco Ltd increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 809.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,394 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,492 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.4% of XTX Topco Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. XTX Topco Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,808,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc. now owns 5,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $724,000 after buying an additional 780 shares during the period. Biechele Royce Advisors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Biechele Royce Advisors now owns 5,167 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $722,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 27,296 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,813,000 after buying an additional 1,096 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 9,602,869 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,341,425,000 after acquiring an additional 103,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vannoy Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $277,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.14.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 31,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,264,112. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total transaction of $5,570,188.20. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.00, for a total transaction of $114,576.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 31,334 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,264,112. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 217,592 shares of company stock worth $35,922,911. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $165.86 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.01. The company has a market capitalization of $2.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $120.21 and a one year high of $191.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

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.