Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by Continuum Advisory LLC

Continuum Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,222 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,470,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189,592 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $165.32 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.66.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.