Senator Investment Group LP Has $23.81 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Senator Investment Group LP lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 28.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 125,000 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 50,000 shares during the quarter. Senator Investment Group LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. grew its stake in Alphabet by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 12,513 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,383,000 after buying an additional 1,799 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 233.0% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 420,416 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $80,064,000 after acquiring an additional 294,148 shares during the period. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $542,000. Trajan Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC now owns 82,400 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,692,000 after acquiring an additional 7,775 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 626,603 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $119,330,000 after purchasing an additional 29,056 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $2.65 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $164.12. The company had a trading volume of 26,628,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,495,261. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.17. 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 firm has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. 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 the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.77. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $205.00.

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.