Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Polar Capital Holdings Plc’s 8th Largest Position

Polar Capital Holdings Plc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 17.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,803,247 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 273,074 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.9% of Polar Capital Holdings Plc’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Polar Capital Holdings Plc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $343,410,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82% 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $166.81 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $160.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.79.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business 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. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.