Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,263,315 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 166,500 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 8.3% of Soroban Capital Partners LP's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Soroban Capital Partners LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $617,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Bennett Selby Investments LP boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Burt Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research 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 MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.
Read Our Latest Research Report on Alphabet
Insider Activity
In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.
Alphabet Trading Down 1.5%
GOOGL stock traded down $2.56 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $163.98. The company had a trading volume of 46,504,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,183,600. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $158.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.93. The stock has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted 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 $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 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.
Further Reading
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