Banque Transatlantique SA Purchases Shares of 678,482 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 678,482 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $128,557,000. Alphabet accounts for about 3.0% of Banque Transatlantique SA’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,383,677,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 98,638,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,672,198,000 after acquiring an additional 7,574,417 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.46.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $164.03 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.38, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $160.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $175.41. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $419,320,207.36. This represents a 1.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 148,164 shares of company stock valued at $25,357,390. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.