Mcrae Capital Management Inc. Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Mcrae Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 27,650 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.0% of Mcrae Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Mcrae Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,864,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Denver PWM LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Ignite Planners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 15,078 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,892,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $179.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $192.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $207.05. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

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.