West Financial Advisors LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

West Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 30.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,601 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Flywheel Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $210,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,386 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $830,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 9,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253 shares during the period. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Outlook Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,815 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,615,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keeler & Nadler Financial Planning & Wealth Management increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Keeler & Nadler Financial Planning & Wealth Management now owns 2,681 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $508,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total value of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $196.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50 day moving average is $184.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.33. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $201.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 price target (up previously from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased 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. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.15.

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.