DnB Asset Management AS Buys 315,138 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

DnB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,951,657 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 315,138 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 6.5% of DnB Asset Management AS’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. DnB Asset Management AS owned 0.06% of Alphabet worth $1,505,249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Community Bank N.A. raised its position in Alphabet by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the period. Permanent Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $273,000. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares during the period. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. 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 quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $145.60 on Monday. 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. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.38 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.93.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.