Quantessence Capital LLC Purchases New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Quantessence Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 14,482 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,758,000. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.1% of Quantessence Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 140.6% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $927,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOG. Benchmark reaffirmed a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $171.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.5 %

GOOG stock traded up $2.38 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $163.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 35,100,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,526,202. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. 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 50 day moving average price is $164.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.17. The company has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.77. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 in the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.