Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.2% of Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.81% of Alphabet worth $18,672,198,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares during the period. Passumpsic Savings Bank increased its holdings in Alphabet by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 4,700 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $779,000 after buying an additional 1,294 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 37,379 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,199,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,306 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd lifted its stake in Alphabet by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Te Ahumairangi Investment Management Ltd now owns 137,669 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $22,703,000 after acquiring an additional 22,169 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %
NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $2.68 on Friday, reaching $161.96. 55,957,898 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,435,946. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business's fifty day moving average price is $162.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.43. 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. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.
Insider Transactions at Alphabet
In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. DZ Bank lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.03.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Alphabet
Alphabet Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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