Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Acquires New Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 42,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,139,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Walden Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Walden Wealth Partners LLC now owns 18,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,420,000 after acquiring an additional 931 shares during the last quarter. Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Norman Fields Gottscho Capital Management LLC now owns 35,879 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,912,000 after acquiring an additional 962 shares during the period. Franchise Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $15,476,000. Warther Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 36.6% in the 2nd quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,863 shares during the period. Finally, CX Institutional boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.2% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 31,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 163,624 shares of company stock valued at $27,803,730 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOG. DA Davidson upgraded Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Pivotal Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $173.02 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $171.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.40 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The company has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.95, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

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.