Armis Advisers LLC Acquires New Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Armis Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,194 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,173,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded down $0.84 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $171.52. The stock had a trading volume of 19,518,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,798,558. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.31, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $159.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $174.73. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - 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 the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.