Mufg Securities Americas Inc. Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 70,254 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $13,379,000. Alphabet comprises 1.7% of Mufg Securities Americas Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8%

Alphabet stock opened at $160.89 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $160.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Alphabet's revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. 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 currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.