Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Holdings Boosted by Mediolanum International Funds Ltd

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 768,908 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 72,550 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.6% of Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $137,073,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 3.9% in the first quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 4,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $651,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $522,000. Burney Co. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 13,414 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Noesis Capital Mangement Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp now owns 181,534 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,361,000 after purchasing an additional 2,073 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $310.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $324.81.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total value of $4,408,034.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 14,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,629,725.80. This represents a 16.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 195,452 shares of company stock valued at $49,255,209 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $289.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a current ratio of 1.90. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $261.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $212.97. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $306.89.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 36.08% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

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.