36,937 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Acquired by Farringdon Capital Ltd.

Farringdon Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 36,937 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,034,000. Alphabet makes up about 2.9% of Farringdon Capital Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Demars Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $89,109,000. Coleford Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $400,000. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Greenwood Gearhart Inc. now owns 173,769 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $33,093,000 after purchasing an additional 15,028 shares during the last quarter. Cravens & Co Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Cravens & Co Advisors LLC now owns 7,768 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Finally, MSH Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $361,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Westpark Capital started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $210.88.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $2.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $153.36. The company had a trading volume of 19,461,666 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,427,163. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50-day moving average of $167.16 and a 200 day moving average of $177.55. The company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.