SVB Wealth LLC Takes $48.44 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 255,890 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $48,440,000. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of SVB Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after buying an additional 743,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,268,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,385 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,175,106,000 after purchasing an additional 523,416 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Ten investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other 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 sale, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 95,882 shares of company stock worth $17,934,130 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $162.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.03 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $186.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.39. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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 research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 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.