Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by Kensico Capital Management Corp

Kensico Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 923,600 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 33,600 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 4.0% of Kensico Capital Management Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Kensico Capital Management Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $174,837,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Optivise Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,816,000 after buying an additional 14,262 shares during the period. Absolute Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the period. Finally, Permanent Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $273,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock traded up $1.32 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $159.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 10,634,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 34,138,473. The company's fifty day moving average is $158.63 and its 200-day moving average is $175.22. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 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%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. 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 90 days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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.