Jackson Hill Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Jackson Hill Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 135.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 99,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 57,000 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 9.5% of Jackson Hill Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Jackson Hill Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,854,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,261,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 165,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,701,000 after buying an additional 16,807 shares in the last quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 9,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,627,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GenTrust LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 95.4% in the third quarter. GenTrust LLC now owns 8,491 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,420,000 after buying an additional 4,146 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on GOOG. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $166.25 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $148.20 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $184.37 and a 200 day moving average of $178.07.

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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 in the last quarter. Corporate 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.