Ratan Capital Management LP Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ratan Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 62,350 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,803,000. Alphabet comprises about 1.8% of Ratan Capital Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Redwood Financial Network Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Redwood Financial Network Corp now owns 5,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,064,000 after buying an additional 552 shares during the period. Redwood Investments LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 16.7% in the fourth quarter. Redwood Investments LLC now owns 77,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,702,000 after acquiring an additional 11,105 shares during the period. Rip Road Capital Partners LP increased its stake in Alphabet by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Rip Road Capital Partners LP now owns 50,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,560,000 after acquiring an additional 7,100 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $3,119,000. Finally, Point72 Europe London LLP lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 360.3% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP now owns 387,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,277,000 after purchasing an additional 302,996 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $165.37 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $158.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.05. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced 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 $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Wedbush set a $190.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.