Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 763 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.7% of Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,699,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its stake 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 worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 4.2% in the 4th 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 period. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,864,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’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. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 104,812 shares of company stock valued at $19,336,979. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $154.33 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $147.22 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $179.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.72. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, 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 (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, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.