MUFG Securities EMEA plc Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 500,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $70,465,000. Alphabet accounts for about 4.2% of MUFG Securities EMEA plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $4,101,040,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Alphabet by 11.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,649,838,000 after buying an additional 9,703,425 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $11,600,970,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,852,868,000 after buying an additional 4,348,188 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 198.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,882,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $547,215,000 after buying an additional 2,583,128 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG traded up $1.27 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $176.33. 11,403,560 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,240,740. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $115.83 and a twelve month high of $179.95. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $162.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $148.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.22, for a total value of $3,897,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,258,011 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $391,132,665.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 205,935 shares of company stock valued at $31,178,987 over the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Susquehanna increased their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $165.67.

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.