Nordea Investment Management AB Buys 704,875 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,184,399 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 704,875 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.4% of Nordea Investment Management AB’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.06% of Alphabet worth $1,384,039,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after purchasing an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 103,557,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,247,208,000 after acquiring an additional 259,213 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,395 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 15,424,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,578,793,000 after acquiring an additional 1,291,274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,657,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,688,743,000 after purchasing an additional 636,008 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target for the company. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total value of $3,741,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at $350,361,837.80. This trade represents a 1.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $193.13 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.61, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $202.88. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $181.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.97.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

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.