Argentarii LLC Invests $7.88 Million in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Argentarii LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 41,641 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,883,000. Alphabet accounts for about 4.0% of Argentarii LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,910,838,000 after purchasing an additional 743,369 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after buying an additional 2,626,431 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Alphabet by 7.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 50,615,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,581,427,000 after purchasing an additional 757,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,451,718 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,278,910,000 after buying an additional 1,218,639 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.59.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $163.99 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $182.57 and a 200 day moving average of $176.38. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $147.22 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 earnings per share 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

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.