157,700 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Bought by Point72 Italy S.r.l.

Point72 Italy S.r.l. acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 157,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,853,000. Alphabet accounts for approximately 16.5% of Point72 Italy S.r.l.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its biggest position.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Optivise Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,035,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A. grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares in the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its holdings in Alphabet by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,816,000 after acquiring an additional 14,262 shares during the period. Absolute Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the period. Finally, Permanent Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $273,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $165.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $158.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities 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 paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group set a $195.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. DZ Bank cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353. 11.64% of the stock is currently 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.