Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by Vident Advisory LLC

Vident Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 57.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 485,536 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 177,161 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.6% of Vident Advisory LLC's holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Vident Advisory LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $91,913,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Alphabet by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction 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 $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% 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 company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $166.19 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $158.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

About Alphabet

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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