Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP Buys 96,328 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 90.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 203,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 96,328 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.2% of Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $38,822,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,910,838,000 after purchasing an additional 743,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $24,383,677,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 50,615,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,581,427,000 after acquiring an additional 757,138 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at $430,917,877.76. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Westpark Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $145.60 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $145.38 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

About Alphabet

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.