AQR Capital Management LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,919,438 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 140,711 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 0.7% of AQR Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $555,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 140.6% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after buying an additional 8,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $927,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $162.42 on Tuesday. 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 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $177.34.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.