LFL Advisers LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

LFL Advisers LLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 123,030 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,675 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 9.1% of LFL Advisers LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. LFL Advisers LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after buying an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.9% during the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,546 shares during the period. Passumpsic Savings Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group lifted its position in Alphabet by 8.7% in the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 822 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 115,663 shares of company stock worth $20,286,447 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of GOOG traded down $3.18 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $155.50. 16,717,848 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,384,830. 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 company has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.32, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The firm's 50 day moving average is $169.17 and its 200-day moving average is $177.83. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors 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 0.51%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reissued a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.71.

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.