Rathbones Group PLC Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Rathbones Group PLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,495,149 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 145,469 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 4.1% of Rathbones Group PLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $850,932,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Community Bank N.A. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,741,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its stake in Alphabet by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares in the last quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $273,000. Finally, Glass Wealth Management Co LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,014,000 after buying an additional 1,580 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Westpark Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho lowered their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.51.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $157.14 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % 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, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 118,297 shares of company stock valued at $20,804,770. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.