GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 19.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 91,681 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,931 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.1% of GAMMA Investing LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,323,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 294,556 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Needham & Company LLC downgraded Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "cautious" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. BNP Paribas downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and six have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $206.38.
View Our Latest Stock Report on Alphabet
Insider Transactions at Alphabet
In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 216,195 shares of company stock valued at $35,764,898 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Alphabet Price Performance
NASDAQ GOOG traded up $3.84 during trading on Friday, reaching $178.27. 73,956,281 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,984,165. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $167.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.02. The company has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.
About Alphabet
(
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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