Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,085,884 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 53,563 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.6% of Czech National Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Czech National Bank's holdings in Alphabet were worth $169,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet
In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 163,270 shares of company stock valued at $26,553,563 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.88.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Alphabet
Alphabet Stock Performance
Alphabet stock traded down $2.66 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $167.71. The stock had a trading volume of 25,313,421 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,277,560. The stock's 50 day moving average is $160.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS 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 paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 9.36%.
Alphabet Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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