Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by Rakuten Securities Inc.

Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 41.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,942 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,202 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 0.8% of Rakuten Securities Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP grew its position in Alphabet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,864,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wolfe Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.3 %

Alphabet stock opened at $167.68 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $147.22 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $182.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.73. 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:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

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.