Select Equity Group L.P. Buys 117,189 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Select Equity Group L.P. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 25.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 584,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 117,189 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $111,308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 16.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Alphabet by 6.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. This trade represents a 15.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.2%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $167.43 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $160.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick 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 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOG. Citigroup reiterated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet 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.