SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Acquires Shares of 304,770 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 304,770 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $57,693,000. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.8% of SBI Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 62,452 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,358,000 after purchasing an additional 2,953 shares in the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 18,062 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,996,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Conning Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 70,991 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,774,000 after purchasing an additional 3,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Harbor Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Harbor Partners LLC now owns 18,881 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,131,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7 %

GOOGL opened at $165.49 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $185.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.46. The company has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.03 and a 1 year high of $207.05. 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 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 95,882 shares of company stock worth $17,934,130 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.