US Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

US Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 9,090 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,281,000. Alphabet comprises about 1.3% of US Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 95,941,129 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,649,838,000 after purchasing an additional 9,703,425 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $11,600,970,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,852,868,000 after purchasing an additional 4,348,188 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 198.7% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 3,882,882 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $547,215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,583,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 93.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,591,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $647,064,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222,950 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at $3,903,886.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,629 shares of company stock valued at $37,091,240 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $154.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.67.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock traded down $2.29 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $169.29. 7,199,543 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,353,377. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $154.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $144.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $114.93 and a twelve month high of $176.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 12.27%.

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.