Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by Wealth Group Ltd

Wealth Group Ltd increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,910,838,000 after purchasing an additional 743,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,268,933,000 after buying an additional 1,237,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,175,106,000 after acquiring an additional 523,416 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,106,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $350,361,837.80. This trade represents a 1.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL traded down $1.54 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $193.95. 24,842,772 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,971,379. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $181.36 and a 200 day moving average of $172.72. The stock has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.72, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.82.

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.