Modera Wealth Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 94,939 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,181 shares during the quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,864,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wedbush upped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. DZ Bank lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 95,882 shares of company stock worth $17,934,130. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $165.49 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.03 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.46. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

About Alphabet

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.