Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd. Boosts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 50.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 117,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 39,500 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 12.3% of Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Pragma Gestao DE Patrimonio Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,377,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $33,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $167.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $148.20 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.36.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

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.