Junto Capital Management LP Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Junto Capital Management LP bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 155,614 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,458,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bennett Selby Investments LP boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,864,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $152.75 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.98, 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $158.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $175.18.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during 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%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

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.