Duquesne Family Office LLC Purchases New Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Duquesne Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 76,680 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,516,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Eagle Global Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 182,790 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,602,000 after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 56,723 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,738,000 after buying an additional 3,737 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Select Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $766,000. Crestline Management LP raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5,584.8% in the 4th quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 233,078 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,122,000 after acquiring an additional 228,978 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advantage Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $742,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $163.23 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $159.92 and its 200-day moving average is $175.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its 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. The firm 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 last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares in the company, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 146,824 shares of company stock worth $25,086,603. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Susquehanna dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on shares of Alphabet 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 MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.46.

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.