Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by StoneX Group Inc.

StoneX Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,504 shares during the quarter. StoneX Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,373,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Denver PWM LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wedbush upped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $207.97.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 9.7 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $158.71 on Thursday. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $170.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

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.