Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Acquired by Bridgewater Advisors Inc.

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.4% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 30,707 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 721 shares during the period. Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 80,246,520 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,309,370,000 after purchasing an additional 862,550 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $4,101,040,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 28,800,413 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,058,842,000 after purchasing an additional 481,376 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 28,558,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,024,679,000 after purchasing an additional 813,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 12,638,895 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,781,200,000 after purchasing an additional 97,603 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of GOOG traded up $4.57 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $191.96. The company had a trading volume of 14,303,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,944,221. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $176.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $157.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.83 and a 1 year high of $192.26.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a — dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares in the company, valued at $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares in the company, valued at $4,880,764.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total value of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 146,288 shares of company stock worth $25,345,053 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Rosenblatt Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $167.86.

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.