Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Acquired by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,827,999 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,467,805 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.0% of Janus Henderson Group PLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned approximately 0.25% of Alphabet worth $5,870,944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,376,066,000 after acquiring an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the firm’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 trade represents a 15.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $154.38 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.