UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Acquires 769,335 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 34,103,417 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 769,335 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.5% of UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned about 0.28% of Alphabet worth $6,494,655,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,606 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,353,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,044 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,341,000 after purchasing an additional 2,390 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 30,843 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,874,000 after purchasing an additional 922 shares during the period. Atwater Malick LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $230,000. Finally, InTrack Investment Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 46.1% in the 4th quarter. InTrack Investment Management Inc now owns 9,276 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,772,000 after purchasing an additional 2,929 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 company'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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $2.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $169.59. 24,910,508 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,083,131. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day moving average of $160.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 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 of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

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.