BNP Paribas Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

BNP Paribas raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 34.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 207,565 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 53,377 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.7% of BNP Paribas' investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. BNP Paribas' holdings in Alphabet were worth $39,292,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP grew its position in Alphabet by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,864,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $457,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Westpark Capital upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.46.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $0.98 on Tuesday, hitting $163.23. The company had a trading volume of 20,996,851 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,163,634. The firm has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $160.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.50. 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:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm'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 value of $5,075,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares of the company's stock, valued at $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,824 shares of company stock worth $25,086,603 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% 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.