Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Has $80.06 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 233.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 420,416 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 294,148 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.6% of Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $80,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm'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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.38.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $4.07 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $157.97. The stock had a trading volume of 18,527,994 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,405,238. The company has a market cap of $1.93 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.62, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $165.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.32. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.