Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 3,870 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $737,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,094,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 140.6% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $927,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. 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. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $166.81 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.72, 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $160.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.79. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.

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