Czech National Bank Has $196.60 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,032,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 53,925 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.8% of Czech National Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $196,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Graypoint LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 55,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,509,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,446 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,038,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares in the last quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 39.0% during the fourth quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 417 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,244 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Praetorian Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $207,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $193.17 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $202.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $184.12 and a 200-day moving average of $174.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 154,387 shares of company stock valued at $27,748,931. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.56.

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.