Hikari Tsushin Inc. Has $116.02 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Hikari Tsushin Inc. reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 612,886 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 52,643 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 8.4% of Hikari Tsushin Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Hikari Tsushin Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $116,019,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares during the period. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Semmax Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 28,325 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,144,000 after buying an additional 2,650 shares during the last quarter. Plotkin Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $892,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $198,110,000. Finally, B&L Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $2,980,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $157.14 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $168.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) 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, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $208.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Westpark Capital raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.51.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.