Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Purchases 6,098 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 768,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,098 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.4% of Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $107,362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meritage Group LP raised its position in Alphabet by 1,061.5% in the 3rd quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 165.8% in the 3rd quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $55,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its position in Alphabet by 301.5% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 522 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $171.95 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $147.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $141.42. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $103.54 and a twelve month high of $174.71. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 25.90%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Wedbush increased their price target on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays increased their price target on Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.82.

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.