Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Alta Advisers Ltd’s 10th Largest Position

Alta Advisers Ltd boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 20.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,379 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,279 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.3% of Alta Advisers Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Alta Advisers Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Alphabet by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,635,878,000 after buying an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Alphabet by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,503,291,000 after buying an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Westpark Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,232,544.70. This trade represents a 2.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.6 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $151.47 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $163.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Alphabet Company 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.