Czech National Bank Buys 53,925 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,032,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 53,925 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.8% of Czech National Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $196,595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Graypoint LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 55,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,509,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the period. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 417 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $79,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,244 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $207,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. The trade was a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 154,387 shares of company stock valued at $27,748,931 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $193.17 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.45. The stock has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $202.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid 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 of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

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.