Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 92 shares during the quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,646,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 20,990.0% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,171,151,000 after buying an additional 6,157,413 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 29,866,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,792,317,000 after acquiring an additional 4,694,621 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $513,024,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. 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 report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Ten equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $154.33 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $179.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.72. The company has a market capitalization of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $147.22 and a twelve month 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 for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Alphabet 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.