Prakash Investment Advisors LLC Takes $1.67 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Prakash Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 8,760 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,668,000. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.6% of Prakash Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,181,000 after purchasing an additional 51,226 shares during the last quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC now owns 54,102 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,045,000 after buying an additional 2,328 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% during the third quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 10,730 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,771,000 after buying an additional 944 shares in the last quarter. Busey Bank increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the third quarter. Busey Bank now owns 579,189 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $96,835,000 after buying an additional 5,041 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Oak Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $1,375,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.7 %

Alphabet stock opened at $181.58 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $194.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.45. The stock has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet 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.