Vulcan Value Partners LLC Purchases 51,286 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Vulcan Value Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,937,027 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,286 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 6.2% of Vulcan Value Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Vulcan Value Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $368,897,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $163.85 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.16. 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 $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.04 by $0.77. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. 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 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.