GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd Invests $49.73 Million in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 262,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $49,725,000. Alphabet comprises approximately 17.5% of GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 87,992 shares of company stock valued at $16,097,111. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.59.

Alphabet Trading Down 4.9 %

GOOGL opened at $154.33 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $179.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $177.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.22 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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, beating 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, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.