Northern Trust Corp Acquires 10,135,430 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.9% of Northern Trust Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.57% of Alphabet worth $13,178,470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its position in Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Denver PWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $161.96 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $162.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.97 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $198.63.

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.