Anthracite Investment Company Inc. Buys 6,000 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Anthracite Investment Company Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 85.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,000 shares during the quarter. Anthracite Investment Company Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total transaction of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.4 %

GOOGL opened at $145.60 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.68. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $145.38 and a 52 week high of $207.05. 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 stock has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. 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.