281,000 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Acquired by Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd

Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 281,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $53,193,000. Alphabet accounts for 1.5% of Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7%

GOOGL opened at $159.53 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $158.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.