Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by Palestra Capital Management LLC

Palestra Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 752,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 113,654 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 3.9% of Palestra Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Palestra Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $142,446,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its position in Alphabet by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,864,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.46.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,053 shares of company stock worth $25,339,647. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $158.80 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a 50-day moving average of $160.78 and a 200 day moving average of $175.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

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.