Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Acquires 303,091 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,703,909 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 303,091 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.3% of Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $705,372,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 140.6% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $927,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 146,824 shares of company stock worth $25,086,603. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $155.75 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

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.