Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC Buys New Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 16,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,067,000. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.6% of Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Denver PWM LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $144.70 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $172.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.46.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.10.

About Alphabet

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.