Greenwood Gearhart Inc. Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Greenwood Gearhart Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 50.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,051 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 685 shares during the period. Greenwood Gearhart Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after acquiring an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after acquiring an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 20,990.0% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,171,151,000 after acquiring an additional 6,157,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,792,317,000 after purchasing an additional 4,694,621 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $151.08 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $1.84 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.74.

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.