Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by Northern Trust Corp

Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 16.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.5% of Northern Trust Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Northern Trust Corp owned approximately 0.47% of Alphabet worth $10,873,751,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,546 shares during the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,718,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2 %

GOOG traded up $1.90 during trading on Thursday, reaching $162.79. 21,825,033 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,213,554. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $162.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.12.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,053 shares of company stock worth $25,339,647 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.