Black Creek Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Black Creek Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 114,686 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,322 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.0% of Black Creek Investment Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Black Creek Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $24,383,677,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Westpark Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. DZ Bank cut shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $200.74.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.2 %

GOOGL traded down $3.35 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $147.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,184,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,221,361. The business's 50-day moving average is $165.14 and its 200-day moving average is $175.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.