By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 136,783 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $25,893,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $513,024,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in Alphabet by 26.9% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 10,064,598 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,669,300,000 after acquiring an additional 2,136,128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Darsana Capital Partners LP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $331,700,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $173.86 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $188.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.60, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $134.00 and a one year high of $207.05.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 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 expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.
Alphabet Dividend Announcement
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 note on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.
Get Our Latest Analysis on GOOGL
Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet
In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.
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.
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