Rakuten Securities Inc. Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 41.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,942 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,202 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.8% of Rakuten Securities Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Rakuten Securities Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $273,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 27.9% in the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,516 shares during the period. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock traded down $4.42 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $166.14. 13,643,897 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,132,676. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $181.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.86. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $147.21 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 0.48%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush upped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $210.59.

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.