Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,058,725 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 135,282 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.2% of MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $579,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, 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 have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL traded up $2.23 during trading on Friday, hitting $166.19. The stock had a trading volume of 42,292,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,056,860. 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 capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.64, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company's 50-day moving average price is $158.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 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.