Two Sigma Securities LLC Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Two Sigma Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 66.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,892 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,141 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $1,551,533,000. GQG Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5,712.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,367,831 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $831,810,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292,689 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were 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. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $161.47 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $164.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.17. The company has a market cap of $1.97 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.04 by $0.77. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Westpark Capital initiated coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.56.

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.