Banque Transatlantique SA Purchases New Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 818,446 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $156,552,000. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.7% of Banque Transatlantique SA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,094,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $824,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 140.6% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $927,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research note on Friday. Benchmark reaffirmed a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three investment 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $165.81 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's 50-day moving average is $162.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders 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 a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,164 shares of company stock valued at $25,357,390 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently 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.

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