Legacy Financial Strategies LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Legacy Financial Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,665 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 106 shares during the quarter. Legacy Financial Strategies LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Meritage Group LP lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the 3rd quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 165.8% during the third quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its holdings in Alphabet by 301.5% during the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 522 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $166.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.71 and a 52-week high of $174.71. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $141.62. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 253,209 shares of company stock valued at $36,711,144 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Susquehanna upped their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 price target (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $189.44.

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.