Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Position Boosted by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 865,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,546 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 3.1% of Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $163,863,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. State Street Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,910,838,000 after buying an additional 743,369 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after buying an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,268,933,000 after buying an additional 1,237,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,175,106,000 after buying an additional 523,416 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.7 %

GOOGL opened at $179.66 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $192.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.69. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 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, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.