Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Buys 60,794 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 59.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 162,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 60,794 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $28,522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Keel Point LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 67,443 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,767,000 after purchasing an additional 3,232 shares in the last quarter. Davidson Kahn Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,905,000. LGT Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 217.2% in the fourth quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,213 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $608,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Management lifted its position in Alphabet by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Peterson Wealth Management now owns 16,419 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,108,000 after buying an additional 1,301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Strategies LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 9,098 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,722,000 after buying an additional 651 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $158.80 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $160.78 and its 200-day moving average is $175.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,053 shares of company stock worth $25,339,647 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Westpark Capital upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.46.

Alphabet Company 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.