Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stake Raised by Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV

Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 14,913 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.7% of Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Paradigm Capital Management LLC NV’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,840,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Parkwood LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Parkwood LLC now owns 105,534 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,098,000 after buying an additional 8,981 shares during the period. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $13,379,000. Main Street Group LTD increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Main Street Group LTD now owns 821 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,427 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,605,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 842,767 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $163,531,000 after buying an additional 25,282 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $160.89 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $160.39 and a 200-day moving average of $176.86. 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 19.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOG. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

About Alphabet

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.