Polar Capital Holdings Plc Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 17.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,803,247 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 273,074 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.9% of Polar Capital Holdings Plc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Polar Capital Holdings Plc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $343,410,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Benchmark reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $2.03 on Friday, reaching $167.43. The stock had a trading volume of 35,833,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,720,619. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $160.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.74. 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 capitalization of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company 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 was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

About Alphabet

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.