USS Investment Management Ltd Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

USS Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 19.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 971,242 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 156,167 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.3% of USS Investment Management Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. USS Investment Management Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $184,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Benchmark reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG traded up $1.92 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $171.98. The company had a trading volume of 44,924,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,042,982. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.62. 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 market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,374 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.