National Pension Service Buys 182,755 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

National Pension Service increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,607,905 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 182,755 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.9% of National Pension Service's portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.08% of Alphabet worth $1,342,128,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4,894.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,606,670,000 after buying an additional 5,336,359 shares during the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $634,465,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $601,545,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $407,367,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.08, for a total transaction of $3,219,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,355,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $336,980,728.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,291 shares in the company, valued at $1,296,187.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.08, for a total transaction of $3,219,300.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,355,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at $336,980,728.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 276,511 shares of company stock worth $41,234,695. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Argus boosted their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $200.00 target price (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $190.60.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.3 %

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $2.17 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $172.51. The stock had a trading volume of 26,916,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,341,746. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $115.35 and a one year high of $174.71. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $154.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $144.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

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.