Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Buys 303,091 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,703,909 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 303,091 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.3% of Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $705,372,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. FMR LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 117,991,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,470,344,000 after acquiring an additional 3,189,592 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,894,651,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,606 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 39,148,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,455,571,000 after buying an additional 294,556 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 146,824 shares of company stock worth $25,086,603. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.9 %

Alphabet stock opened at $155.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.35, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $161.33 and its 200 day moving average is $176.93. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

About Alphabet

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.