Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by GAM Holding AG

GAM Holding AG increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1,050.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,391 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,619 shares during the period. GAM Holding AG’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. M&G PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $2,240,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after acquiring an additional 14,738 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $50,488,000 after acquiring an additional 4,292 shares during the period. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $927,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $181.58 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.