AJOVista LLC Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

AJOVista LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 4,144 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $584,000. Alphabet makes up about 0.7% of AJOVista LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,852,868,000 after acquiring an additional 4,348,188 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Alphabet by 11.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,649,838,000 after buying an additional 9,703,425 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,269,184 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,550,942,000 after buying an additional 1,275,060 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 27,744,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,658,122,000 after acquiring an additional 92,741 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 19,822,203 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,613,557,000 after acquiring an additional 390,118 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total value of $41,853.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,296,187.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3 %

GOOG stock traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $168.99. The stock had a trading volume of 22,767,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,353,938. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.10. The firm has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50-day moving average of $151.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $143.69. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $104.70 and a 52-week high of $176.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $165.67.

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.