Centaurus Financial Inc. Acquires 26,092 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 35.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,717 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 26,092 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.1% of Centaurus Financial Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Centaurus Financial Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,800,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during 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 lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 294,556 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $2.09 during trading on Friday, reaching $170.87. The company's stock had a trading volume of 36,230,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,270,754. The firm has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $160.88 and a 200-day moving average of $176.30. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 164,533 shares of company stock worth $26,772,774. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOG. Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.

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.