MRP Capital Investments LLC Has $4.64 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Key Points

• MRP Capital Investments LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. by 18.8% in Q1, now owning 29,690 shares valued at approximately $4.64 million, making it the fund's second largest holding.
• CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock for about $5.99 million, resulting in a 1.27% decrease in his position.
• Alphabet recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.43%, reflecting an annual payout ratio of 8.95%.

MRP Capital Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 18.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,690 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 4,702 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 4.3% of MRP Capital Investments LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. MRP Capital Investments LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,638,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. FMR LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,470,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189,592 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,219,606 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in 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 worth $7,455,571,000 after purchasing an additional 294,556 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Citizens Jmp upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total value of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,094,245.74. This trade represents a 6.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 18,566 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.76, for a total value of $3,448,820.16. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 243,400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,213,984. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 249,298 shares of company stock valued at $43,505,967. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $0.94 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $197.37. 10,481,751 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,250,527. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.53. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $96.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.67 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%. Alphabet's revenue was up 13.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

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.