Alley Investment Management Company LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alley Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 97,612 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 169 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.3% of Alley Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Alley Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its position in Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the 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 owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $164.29 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $185.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.58. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $146.08 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.41, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. Analysts predict 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 was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.