Point72 Italy S.r.l. Takes $29.85 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Point72 Italy S.r.l. purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 157,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,853,000. Alphabet comprises 16.5% of Point72 Italy S.r.l.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 7.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,455,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. grew its stake in Alphabet by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Sightline Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $223,000. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $1,218,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.7%

Alphabet stock opened at $165.37 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $158.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.05. 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 capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. 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 payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

About Alphabet

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.