Point72 Europe London LLP Purchases 302,996 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Point72 Europe London LLP raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 360.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 387,096 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 302,996 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 4.2% of Point72 Europe London LLP's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Point72 Europe London LLP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $73,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Italy S.r.l. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,853,000. Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 1,865,626 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $353,163,000 after acquiring an additional 346,665 shares in the last quarter. Private Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Private Capital Management LLC now owns 35,343 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 3,556,233 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $673,195,000 after acquiring an additional 668,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prodigy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $444,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Citigroup lifted their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $165.37 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.54, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $158.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.05. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 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 issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

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.

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