Proem Advisors LLC Invests $15.24 Million in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Proem Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 80,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,235,000. Alphabet comprises 4.1% of Proem Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,777,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,894,651,000 after acquiring an additional 1,219,606 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,824,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,870,181,000 after purchasing an additional 875,480 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $5,166,070,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,483,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,615,516,000 after buying an additional 144,170 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.9 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $152.63 on Friday. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $178.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $178.38. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $148.20 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $1.86 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 87,297 shares of company stock valued at $15,936,270. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Westpark Capital started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.65.

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.