Caxton Associates LP Purchases New Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Caxton Associates LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 7,975 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,510,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 100,467 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $19,018,000 after buying an additional 4,377 shares in the last quarter. Boltwood Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 23,593 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,466,000 after acquiring an additional 886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Market Strategies LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital Market Strategies LLC now owns 11,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,101,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 146,824 shares of company stock valued at $25,086,603. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $2.90 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $154.28. 57,353,125 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,714,286. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company's 50-day moving average is $159.54 and its 200-day moving average is $175.25. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Alphabet 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.