Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,475,937 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,635 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 5.6% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $279,394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% in the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 728,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $120,834,000 after purchasing an additional 46,677 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares during the period. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 26.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 8,304 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,377,000 after purchasing an additional 1,749 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Round Rock Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.5% during the third quarter. Round Rock Advisors LLC now owns 9,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,546,000 after buying an additional 649 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. DZ Bank downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value 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 through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.3 %

GOOGL stock opened at $167.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.73. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $147.22 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.83, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.