Paulson & CO. Inc. Buys New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Paulson & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 10,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,904,000. Alphabet comprises 0.1% of Paulson & CO. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Triumph Capital Management grew its position in Alphabet by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 5,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Connors Investor Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. now owns 101,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,232,000 after buying an additional 1,786 shares during the last quarter. Valley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $227,000. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. Bridgewealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares during the period. Finally, Altarock Partners LP boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Altarock Partners LP now owns 3,480,801 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $658,916,000 after purchasing an additional 146,896 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $160.16 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $161.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.49. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $1.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for 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%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.89.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.