Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,092,232 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 348,335 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.1% of Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 0.08% of Alphabet worth $1,910,460,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $24,383,677,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 20,990.0% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,171,151,000 after purchasing an additional 6,157,413 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in Alphabet by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,792,317,000 after purchasing an additional 4,694,621 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Finally, GQG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $629,008,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $145.60 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $145.38 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wedbush increased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Westpark Capital raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

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.