Waterloo Capital L.P. Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Waterloo Capital L.P. lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,627 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% during 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, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.8 %

GOOGL opened at $157.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.92 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.52, a P/E/G 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $168.52 and a 200 day moving average of $176.22. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.51.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

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 sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.