Sone Capital Management LLC Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sone Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 49,024 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $9,280,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 3,263,315 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $617,746,000 after buying an additional 166,500 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 485,536 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $91,913,000 after purchasing an additional 177,161 shares during the last quarter. Vista Cima Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $1,225,000. Vivaldi Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Alphabet by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 15,493 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,972,000 after buying an additional 2,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC now owns 14,982 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,836,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of GOOGL traded down $2.56 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $163.98. The stock had a trading volume of 46,504,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,183,600. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.37, 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 current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock's 50 day moving average is $158.23 and its 200 day moving average is $174.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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.