Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd Makes New $4.66 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 24,465 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,659,000. Alphabet makes up 4.5% of Fairtree Asset Management Pty Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hutchinson Capital Management CA increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $173.98 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

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.