Quantessence Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 14,482 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Quantessence Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 14,482 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,758,000. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.1% of Quantessence Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $1,551,533,000. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5,712.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,367,831 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $831,810,000 after acquiring an additional 4,292,689 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Westpark Capital initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.38.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $149.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. 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 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $166.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.49.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.53%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at $419,320,207.36. The trade was a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.