AQR Capital Management LLC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,919,438 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 140,711 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 0.7% of AQR Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. AQR Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $555,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.9 %

GOOG traded up $3.02 during trading on Friday, reaching $165.81. 16,826,135 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,189,025. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 stock's 50 day moving average price is $162.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.09. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 148,164 shares of company stock valued at $25,357,390. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.