StoneX Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

StoneX Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 35.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 29,210 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,719 shares during the quarter. StoneX Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,563,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $156.23 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $180.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $178.70. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $148.20 and a twelve month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 87,992 shares of company stock worth $16,093,773 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.56.

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.