GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Acquires New Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 703,666 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $134,006,000. Alphabet makes up 2.9% of GF Fund Management CO. LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,873,751,000 after buying an additional 7,917,625 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 181,679.1% during the fourth quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,066,000 after buying an additional 7,221,746 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $169.59 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $160.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.61. The company has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

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.