Summit Investment Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Summit Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 137,477 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,762 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 23.2% of Summit Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Summit Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,024,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 20,990.0% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,186,748 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,171,151,000 after purchasing an additional 6,157,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew 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 valued at $5,792,317,000 after purchasing an additional 4,694,621 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock valued at $30,153,353 over the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $152.75 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $158.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. DZ Bank lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down previously from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

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.