Catalina Capital Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Catalina Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,027 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.6% of Catalina Capital Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Catalina Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,929,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. M&G PLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $2,240,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,642,000 after purchasing an additional 14,738 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $927,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $193.31 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $192.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.37 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.64, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.00. 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 one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’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 transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.