GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 262,679 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $49,725,000. Alphabet makes up about 17.5% of GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush upped their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Westpark Capital raised Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $209.13.

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Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $6.32 during trading on Thursday, hitting $150.72. The company had a trading volume of 46,763,615 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,470,814. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.22 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $176.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.77.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were 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 $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 87,297 shares of company stock worth $15,936,270. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.