By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG – Free Report) by 904.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 523,174 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 471,103 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $99,633,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,337 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $636,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 7,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,463,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on GOOG
Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet
In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Alphabet Price Performance
Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $186.87 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.55 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s 50 day moving average is $194.37 and its 200-day moving average is $176.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.21, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.
See Also
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