Eschler Asset Management LLP Acquires Shares of 14,540 Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Eschler Asset Management LLP bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 14,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,579,000. Alphabet accounts for 1.9% of Eschler Asset Management LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% during the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 58.7% during the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 121.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of Alphabet 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 42,985 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,635,348.70. This trade represents a 29.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total value of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,369,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 228,906 shares of company stock valued at $62,127,158 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $310.52 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $328.67. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $283.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $229.94. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.62, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.12 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Pivotal Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $325.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $313.04.

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.