Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 33.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,571,741 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 392,086 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 15.8% of Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $297,530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 20,990.0% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,171,151,000 after acquiring an additional 6,157,413 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,792,317,000 after purchasing an additional 4,694,621 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $513,024,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wolfe Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % 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 worth $17,374,274 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $170.56 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $181.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $147.22 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. 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.