Axis Wealth Partners LLC Purchases New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Axis Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,954 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $370,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 124,134 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,499,000 after purchasing an additional 2,208 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its holdings in Alphabet by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,792,317,000 after buying an additional 4,694,621 shares during the period. Permanent Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $273,000. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 113,833 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $21,549,000 after buying an additional 2,907 shares during the period. Finally, Naviter Wealth LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 63.0% during the fourth quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 92,836 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,574,000 after acquiring an additional 35,871 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $163.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $182.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.38. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $147.22 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.