Platinum Investment Management Ltd. Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Platinum Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 32.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 380,015 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 93,947 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 4.3% of Platinum Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Platinum Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $72,370,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $281,000. Brooklyn FI LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 6,347.1% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn FI LLC now owns 365,745 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $64,544,000 after acquiring an additional 360,072 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 1,169,976 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $222,810,000 after acquiring an additional 19,360 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $79,306,000. Finally, Evoke Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 29,361 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,592,000 after acquiring an additional 2,090 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOOG. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.3 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $162.67 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $186.10 and a 200 day moving average of $178.10. The company has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $147.01 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,445.55. The trade was a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.