Stevens Capital Management LP Acquires New Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 13,211 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,845,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abbrea Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC now owns 109,218 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,257,000 after purchasing an additional 3,044 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 707.2% in the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 300,454 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $41,970,000 after purchasing an additional 263,231 shares in the last quarter. Two Point Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Two Point Capital Management Inc. now owns 92,755 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,957,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Cross Staff Investments Inc now owns 16,201 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,263,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the period. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 421,598 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $58,893,000 after purchasing an additional 27,556 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.60.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $167.24 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $103.97 and a twelve month high of $174.71. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.15. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $149.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,903,886.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.