Gemsstock Ltd. Purchases 8,300 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Gemsstock Ltd. grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 153,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,300 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 5.8% of Gemsstock Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Gemsstock Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $29,137,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $147.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $147.54 and a one year high of $208.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $177.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.80 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock worth $21,089,470. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Westpark Capital started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.65.

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.