167,965 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Acquired by SBI Securities Co. Ltd.

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 167,965 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $31,987,000. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.0% of SBI Securities Co. Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 21.3% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 119,583 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,773,000 after purchasing an additional 20,993 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 19,519 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,717,000 after purchasing an additional 2,327 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 98,278 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,716,000 after purchasing an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. MMA Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $1,115,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 47,931 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,236,000 after purchasing an additional 8,743 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,316 shares of company stock valued at $25,062,887 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $172.61 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $191.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $208.70. The firm has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

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.