Morris Financial Concepts Inc. Has $529,000 Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Morris Financial Concepts Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. Morris Financial Concepts Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Drake & Associates LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 43.1% in the 3rd quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 4,411 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $732,000 after buying an additional 1,328 shares during the last quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 8,213 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,593 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the period. NatWest Group plc grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 24.4% in the 3rd quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 93,419 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,494,000 after acquiring an additional 18,337 shares during the period. Finally, Strid Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $180,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $179.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.27, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $192.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.05. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Ten investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

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.