Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 778,678 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 770 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 3.0% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $148,291,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $1,551,533,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 114,802,133 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,193,768,000 after acquiring an additional 5,655,022 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5,712.8% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,367,831 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $831,810,000 after acquiring an additional 4,292,689 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 33,334,082 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,573,125,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 182.1% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 2,526,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $422,331,000 after acquiring an additional 1,630,701 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.8 %

GOOG stock opened at $169.00 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.01 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $188.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $178.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 95,682 shares of company stock valued at $17,901,024 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.