Infinitum Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 50,000 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Infinitum Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 50,000 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $9,522,000. Alphabet accounts for 5.0% of Infinitum Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in 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 stake in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% in 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 lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Tigress Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given 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 has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $0.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $172.69. The stock had a trading volume of 11,649,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,144,555. The business's 50 day moving average is $160.86 and its 200 day moving average is $176.45. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.46, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.