Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 281,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $53,193,000. Alphabet makes up about 1.5% of Nearwater Capital Markets Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 target price (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Tigress Financial lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $159.53 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.12. The company has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly 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 for 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 last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.