Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,507 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,595,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 11.3% during 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 buying an additional 9,703,425 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $11,600,970,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 120,234,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,852,868,000 after acquiring an additional 4,348,188 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 198.7% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 93.9% in the fourth 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. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $3.15 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $172.98. 21,087,028 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,735,842. The company has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $105.79 and a one year high of $176.42. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $152.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $144.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.75 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business’s revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.66 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

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.