Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 39,999 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,129 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.8% of Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position. Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,587,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,591,000 after purchasing an additional 4,664 shares during the period. Robbins Farley grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 15,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,096,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 8.0% in the third quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $998,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the period. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the third quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 4,416,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $577,908,000 after purchasing an additional 104,366 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.60.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $169.38 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $107.19 and a 1-year high of $174.71. The company’s fifty day moving average is $151.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a current ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.73, for a total transaction of $119,784.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,164 shares in the company, valued at $1,072,665.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.73, for a total transaction of $119,784.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,164 shares in the company, valued at $1,072,665.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 252,629 shares of company stock valued at $37,091,240. Company insiders own 0.88% 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.