Grove Street Fiduciary LLC Purchases New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Grove Street Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 7.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $513,024,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 10,064,598 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,669,300,000 after acquiring an additional 2,136,128 shares during the period. Finally, Darsana Capital Partners LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $331,700,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total transaction of $559,856.70. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2 %

Alphabet stock opened at $173.02 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $189.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.38. The stock has a market cap of $2.11 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.49, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 one year low of $130.85 and a one year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Loop Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

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.