Gotham Asset Management LLC Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 54,455 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,470 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,370,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $154.38 on Monday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $160.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.