240,289 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Acquired by Allianz SE

Allianz SE bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 240,289 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $46,277,000. Alphabet accounts for about 1.2% of Allianz SE’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,551,533,000. GQG Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 5,712.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,367,831 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $831,810,000 after buying an additional 4,292,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $328,018,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $156.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $148.20 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $181.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.31.

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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 104,812 shares of company stock valued at $19,336,979 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company 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.