Fmr LLC Purchases 22,100,902 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.8% of FMR LLC's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. FMR LLC owned 2.03% of Alphabet worth $47,025,322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,910,838,000 after purchasing an additional 743,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted 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 purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $3.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $156.00. The stock had a trading volume of 17,462,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 28,182,383. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.38, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $167.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.28. 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:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,834 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 118,497 shares of company stock valued at $20,837,150. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. DA Davidson decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $204.72.

Alphabet 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.