Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 62.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 37,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,401 shares during the period. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. raised its position in Alphabet by 40.9% during the fourth quarter. Financial Engines Advisors L.L.C. now owns 116,817 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,113,000 after purchasing an additional 33,888 shares in the last quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 738,531 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $139,804,000 after buying an additional 8,637 shares in the last quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 140,030 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,508,000 after buying an additional 1,036 shares in the last quarter. Morey & Quinn Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $564,000. Finally, Summitry LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Summitry LLC now owns 544,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $103,121,000 after acquiring an additional 3,750 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $145.60 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 firm has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $145.38 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.68.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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