Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Position Lifted by Mariner LLC

Mariner LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,656,972 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 121,737 shares during the period. Mariner LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $315,566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 12.9% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group raised its position in Alphabet by 8.7% during the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,718,000 after acquiring an additional 822 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Westpark Capital initiated coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.71.

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Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 115,663 shares of company stock worth $20,286,447 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $3.18 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $155.50. 16,717,848 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,384,831. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of $169.17 and a 200-day moving average of $177.83. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 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%.

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.