Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,905 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 12,427 shares during the period. Aristotle Atlantic Partners LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.
Read Our Latest Report on Alphabet
Alphabet Price Performance
NASDAQ GOOG traded up $3.02 on Friday, reaching $165.81. The company had a trading volume of 16,826,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,174,655. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $162.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.25.
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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.
Insider Activity at Alphabet
In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,164 shares of company stock valued at $25,357,390 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
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.
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