Baillie Gifford & Co. Acquires 13,920 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 832,818 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,920 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $157,652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $170.33 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $190.58 and a 200-day moving average of $176.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders sold a total of 134,309 shares of company stock valued at $25,057,490 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. DA Davidson upped their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Loop Capital upped their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

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.