Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Northern Trust Corp’s 9th Largest Position

Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.5% of Northern Trust Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,873,751,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 3,622,528 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $689,885,000 after purchasing an additional 38,548 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 232.3% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 212,612 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,490,000 after buying an additional 148,634 shares during the last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC now owns 1,411 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Parkshore Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $207,000. Finally, Long Island Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $163.85 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.35, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average of $164.25 and a 200-day moving average of $177.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for 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%. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.