Night Owl Capital Management LLC Has $65.86 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Night Owl Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 345,817 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,393 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 8.5% of Night Owl Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Night Owl Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $65,857,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. NorthRock Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 356.7% during the fourth quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 63,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,145,000 after buying an additional 49,810 shares in the last quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 210,021 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $39,996,000 after acquiring an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,966 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $737,000. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 215,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $41,034,000 after purchasing an additional 35,493 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction 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 approximately $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price target on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $160.89 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $160.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.86. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.