Victory Capital Management Inc. Has $793.74 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,632,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 161,080 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.8% of Victory Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $793,744,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,649,838,000 after purchasing an additional 9,703,425 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,600,970,000. FMR LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,852,868,000 after acquiring an additional 4,348,188 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 198.7% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,882,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $547,215,000 after acquiring an additional 2,583,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Alphabet by 93.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,591,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $647,064,000 after acquiring an additional 2,222,950 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $165.57 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $150.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $143.31. The company has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.39, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $104.50 and a 1 year high of $176.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,903,886.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 275,129 shares of company stock valued at $40,382,765 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Raymond James increased their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $165.67.

About Alphabet

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.