Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,132,232 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $786,942,000. Alphabet makes up 1.6% of Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. now owns 2,797 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $533,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Landaas & Co. WI ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Landaas & Co. WI ADV now owns 1,710 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. ABLE Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 2,704 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $515,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $441,000. Finally, LifeWealth Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $895,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $4.39 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $173.98. The company had a trading volume of 24,291,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,134,876. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. 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 has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $160.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during 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%. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Benchmark reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Scotiabank dropped 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. Citigroup restated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Company 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.