Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. Has $500.03 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,625,655 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 60,277 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.8% of Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $500,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $1,551,533,000. 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 period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake 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 worth $17,376,706,000 after acquiring an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Benchmark reaffirmed a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG traded up $1.64 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $161.22. The stock had a trading volume of 5,916,681 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,517,024. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $160.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet's revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.