Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Has $585.19 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,072,827 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 382,273 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.6% of Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $585,189,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $164.08 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $148.20 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $182.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.26.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.