Rafferty Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 9.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 475,479 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 42,866 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $90,550,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Benchmark restated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the firm'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 value of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock traded up $2.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $167.43. 35,833,672 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,720,619. The stock's fifty day moving average is $160.19 and its 200-day moving average is $176.74. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.80, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current 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 paid 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet's dividend 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.