Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Holdings Increased by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 63.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,371,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,306,206 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.8% of Van ECK Associates Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $638,317,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after acquiring an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 27.9% during the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after buying an additional 5,516 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,037,196,000 after purchasing an additional 611,233 shares during the period. Olistico Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% in the fourth quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 22.9% during the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 61,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,206,000 after buying an additional 11,481 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $179.66 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.93.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% 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.