Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by Algert Global LLC

Algert Global LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,842 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,612 shares during the quarter. Algert Global LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,588,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $12.38 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $152.82. The stock had a trading volume of 78,690,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,372,544. The company has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. The company's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. The trade was 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 the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 146,824 shares of company stock worth $25,086,603. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.