Kozak & Associates Inc. Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Kozak & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,759 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Kozak & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $771,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 27.9% in the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,516 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,037,196,000 after purchasing an additional 611,233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,567,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.4 %

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $4.54 during trading on Monday, reaching $196.33. 16,937,126 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,273,051. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $172.46. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $201.42. The firm has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Roth Mkm upped their price target on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.82.

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.