KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Makes New $328.02 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 1,722,420 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $328,018,000. Alphabet makes up about 1.6% of KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sfmg LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Sfmg LLC now owns 74,592 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,205,000 after purchasing an additional 4,654 shares during the last quarter. Intellus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $1,683,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 3,001,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $571,641,000 after acquiring an additional 325,352 shares in the last quarter. Plancorp LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Plancorp LLC now owns 11,268 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,146,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Runnymede Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $1,324,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $166.25 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $148.20 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $184.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $177.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $2.03 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.