Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by NBC Securities Inc.

NBC Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 100,083.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 31,057 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,026 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,852,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,470,344,000 after purchasing an additional 3,189,592 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $19,894,651,000 after buying an additional 1,219,606 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew 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 valued at $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position 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 worth $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $170.87 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $160.88 and a 200-day moving average of $176.27. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its 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 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 firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 163,159 shares of company stock valued at $26,534,426 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOG. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.