Giverny Capital Inc. Acquires 109,162 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Giverny Capital Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 16.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 755,342 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 109,162 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 5.3% of Giverny Capital Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Giverny Capital Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $143,847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after acquiring an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,270,000 after purchasing an additional 1,546 shares during the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group grew its stake in Alphabet by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,718,000 after buying an additional 822 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $159.40 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $170.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $177.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.80, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.71.

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.