By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Stephens Inc. AR lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG – Free Report) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 346,933 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,289 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 0.9% of Stephens Inc. AR’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $66,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,247,208,000 after purchasing an additional 259,213 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after purchasing an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,578,793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.
Alphabet Stock Performance
NASDAQ GOOG opened at $185.43 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 23.03, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $193.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.40. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) last posted 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.
Read Our Latest Report on Alphabet
Insider Activity at Alphabet
In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
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.
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