Knuff & Co LLC Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Knuff & Co LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,709 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Warwick Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Warwick Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,753 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $900,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Summit X LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Summit X LLC now owns 28,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,398,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Windle Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $315,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 148,663 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,142,000 after buying an additional 6,006 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bender Robert & Associates lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Bender Robert & Associates now owns 58,933 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,156,000 after buying an additional 784 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $163.99 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.22 and a 12 month high of $207.05. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $182.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.65.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

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.