Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. Buys Shares of 161,415 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 161,415 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $30,556,000. Alphabet accounts for approximately 6.0% of Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after buying an additional 743,369 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after buying an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $24,383,677,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Alphabet by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,503,291,000 after buying an additional 9,042,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $157.14 on Friday. 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 $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $168.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid 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 yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Alphabet from $229.00 to $195.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.51.

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.