Vega Investment Solutions Makes New $4.30 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Vega Investment Solutions bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 22,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,302,000. Alphabet comprises 3.5% of Vega Investment Solutions’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup upped their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $170.87 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.23, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $174.89.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 112,054 shares of company stock worth $17,722,605. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.