K2 Principal Fund L.P. Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

K2 Principal Fund L.P. increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 350.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,756 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,256 shares during the quarter. K2 Principal Fund L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,239,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. Hoese & Co LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $163.07 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $121.46 and a fifty-two week high of $193.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $165.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.46.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $84.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOG. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.86.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,765,346. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.74, for a total transaction of $4,201,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,227,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $415,941,874.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 34,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.60, for a total value of $5,570,188.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 312,210 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,765,346. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 202,667 shares of company stock worth $33,964,256. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.