Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,574 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.6% of Bedel Financial Consulting Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,937,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after buying an additional 743,369 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 50,615,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,581,427,000 after acquiring an additional 757,138 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,175,106,000 after purchasing an additional 523,416 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $165.49 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $185.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.56. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.03 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.56, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share 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 of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on 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 $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. 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 report on Wednesday, February 5th. DZ Bank cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

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.