K2 Principal Fund L.P. Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

K2 Principal Fund L.P. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 270.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,244 shares during the quarter. K2 Principal Fund L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,180,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. RFG Advisory LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 29,375 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,388,000 after buying an additional 1,817 shares during the last quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6,610.0% during the second quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,769,160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $301,312,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742,794 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC now owns 45,517 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,349,000 after acquiring an additional 803 shares during the last quarter. Stordahl Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $229,000. Finally, Ballast Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 21.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 5,007 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $918,000 after purchasing an additional 884 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $176.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $171.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $171.76. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.06 and a 1-year high of $193.31. The firm has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.02.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,948.46. This represents a 8.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 163,624 shares of company stock valued at $27,803,730. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.