Westbourne Investments Inc. Acquires New Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Westbourne Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 15,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,992,000. Alphabet comprises about 1.8% of Westbourne Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $160.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $162.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.12. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. 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:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 148,053 shares of company stock worth $25,339,647. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.