Ieq Capital LLC Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 656,458 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 35,657 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.2% of Ieq Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $125,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,394,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,226 shares during the last quarter. Harvey Investment Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Harvey Investment Co. LLC now owns 108,221 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,093,000 after acquiring an additional 3,085 shares during the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 71,485 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,952,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 1,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co now owns 95,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,026,000 after buying an additional 1,842 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research 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 company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.7 %

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $181.58 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $194.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.34. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. 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 1-year low of $131.55 and a 1-year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

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.