Titleist Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Titleist Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,680,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Alphabet by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,503,291,000 after acquiring an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 20,990.0% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,171,151,000 after buying an additional 6,157,413 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,792,317,000 after acquiring an additional 4,694,621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.51.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $157.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.