Mizuho Securities USA LLC Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 45.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 553,784 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 173,859 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.9% of Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $104,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised 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 worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 88,665 shares of company stock valued at $16,198,310. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.49.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $157.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $147.22 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $178.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.