QRG Capital Management Inc. Acquires 46,312 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,061,767 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 46,312 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.1% of QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $200,993,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,598,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 27.9% during the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,516 shares in the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares in the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 61,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,206,000 after acquiring an additional 11,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 23,164 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,385,000 after acquiring an additional 4,285 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $167.11 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $186.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.48. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $138.99 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. 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 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,682 shares of company stock valued at $17,901,024 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wedbush upped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently 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.