Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,658,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,989 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.6% of Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $503,326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.5 %

GOOGL stock opened at $159.28 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $162.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.44. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.64.

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.