Lazard Asset Management LLC Purchases 18,286 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,955,875 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 18,286 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $372,475,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOG. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG traded up $1.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $160.89. 24,836,886 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,585,327. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The business's 50 day moving average price is $160.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.99, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.