RiverFront Investment Group LLC Acquires 25,140 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

RiverFront Investment Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 258,172 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 25,140 shares during the period. RiverFront Investment Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $49,166,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $1,551,533,000. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 5,712.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,367,831 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $831,810,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292,689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $328,018,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Benchmark restated a "negative" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.56.

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Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 87,992 shares of company stock worth $16,097,111 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of GOOG stock traded up $0.14 on Monday, hitting $156.20. The company had a trading volume of 19,729,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,723,809. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $148.20 and a twelve month high of $208.70. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stock's 50-day moving average is $181.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. 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.