Silphium Asset Management Ltd Makes New $3.46 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Silphium Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 18,254 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,455,000. Alphabet accounts for 1.1% of Silphium Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % 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 company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 95,882 shares of company stock valued at $17,934,130. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup lowered their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten investment 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 data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $165.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.56, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $185.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.46. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.03 and a 12-month high of $207.05.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.