Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 34.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 216,715 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,977 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 4.2% of BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $41,271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Westpark Capital assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the company’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 value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $159.40 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $170.50 and its 200-day moving average is $177.89. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.80, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given 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 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Alphabet 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.