Alta Advisers Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 20.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,379 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,279 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.3% of Alta Advisers Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Alta Advisers Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Alphabet by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after acquiring an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 20,990.0% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,171,151,000 after purchasing an additional 6,157,413 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet
In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.
Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %
Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $2.68 on Friday, reaching $161.96. 55,957,898 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,549,698. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $162.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared 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 a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Westpark Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reduced their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.03.
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About Alphabet
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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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