Titleist Asset Management LLC Buys 231 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Titleist Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,022 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 231 shares during the quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,551,533,000. GQG Partners LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,376,066,000 after acquiring an additional 7,221,746 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5,712.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,367,831 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $831,810,000 after buying an additional 4,292,689 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $328,018,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $147.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $147.54 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.43. 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:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.65.

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.