Norway Savings Bank Has $6.53 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Norway Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 34,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 3.6% of Norway Savings Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Norway Savings Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,534,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 43,005.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,086,250,000 after acquiring an additional 18,700,111 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 587.4% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after buying an additional 9,135,056 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 116.4% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,437,957,000 after acquiring an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings 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, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $1.25 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $195.62. The stock had a trading volume of 18,864,397 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,709,273. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.66 and a twelve month high of $201.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $180.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $172.60. The firm has a market cap of $2.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. JMP Securities cut Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $220.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Loop Capital increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Tigress Financial lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,406,343.27. This trade represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.