First Manhattan CO. LLC. Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,948,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,515 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.1% of First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $370,434,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after buying an additional 10,135,430 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Alphabet by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet 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 directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 146,824 shares of company stock valued at $25,086,603 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.9 %

Alphabet stock opened at $154.28 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $159.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. DZ Bank cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.