Discovery Capital Management LLC CT Takes $7.89 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Discovery Capital Management LLC CT acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 41,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,894,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,871,384,000 after buying an additional 337,031 shares during the last quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA raised its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA now owns 31,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,291,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. FORA Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 222.5% during the 3rd quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 22,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,732,000 after acquiring an additional 15,523 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 4,385,621 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $727,355,000 after acquiring an additional 364,348 shares during the period. Finally, Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $17,523,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $158.71 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 has a market capitalization of $1.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $170.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.32. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $207.97.

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.