Evercore Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 819,701 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,047 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.3% of Evercore Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Evercore Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $155,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.
A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,503,291,000 after buying an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $18,672,198,000 after buying an additional 7,574,417 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was 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 approximately $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % 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 that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $2.83 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $159.13. 14,204,605 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,237,333. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $162.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for 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%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $173.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $198.63.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on GOOGL
About Alphabet
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
Before you consider Alphabet, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Alphabet wasn't on the list.
While Alphabet currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Looking for the next FAANG stock before everyone has heard about it? Enter your email address to see which stocks MarketBeat analysts think might become the next trillion dollar tech company.
Get This Free Report
