Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Purchases 470 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,909 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 470 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,251,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.3% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 34,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,553,000 after buying an additional 2,357 shares during the last quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 18,911 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,475,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. AMS Capital Ltda increased its stake in Alphabet by 54.3% in the third quarter. AMS Capital Ltda now owns 80,560 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,542,000 after purchasing an additional 28,348 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 47.4% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 1,036,966 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $135,697,000 after purchasing an additional 333,670 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Powers Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% during the third quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,476 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Redburn Atlantic raised their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $190.60.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $167.24 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $103.97 and a 12 month high of $174.71. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $149.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $142.12. The stock has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 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 business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,903,886.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.88% 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.