50,738 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Purchased by T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 50,738 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $9,663,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 140.6% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares during the period. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $927,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG traded down $2.58 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $159.48. 13,016,749 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,215,841. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $163.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.