BIP Alliance LLC Invests $592,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

BIP Alliance LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 3,109 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $592,000. Alphabet makes up about 0.3% of BIP Alliance LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after acquiring an additional 7,221,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 112,054 shares of company stock worth $17,722,605 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Tigress Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $171.98 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $160.34 and a 200 day moving average of $176.63. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

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.