V Square Quantitative Management LLC Acquires 24,264 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 63.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 62,491 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,264 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.1% of V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.8% in 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 during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,649,838,000 after purchasing an additional 9,703,425 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 80,246,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,309,370,000 after purchasing an additional 862,550 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% in 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. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $4,101,040,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.50, for a total value of $74,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,791 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,314,254.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.50, for a total value of $74,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,791 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,314,254.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total value of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares in the company, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 158,958 shares of company stock valued at $25,805,853. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $165.67.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $178.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.83 and a 52-week high of $182.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $169.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $152.40. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.69 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Alphabet 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.