Ethic Inc. Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Ethic Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 15.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 416,362 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,953 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.6% of Ethic Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $79,292,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $699,000. Fiduciary Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 369,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $70,383,000 after acquiring an additional 5,028 shares during the period. Family Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Family Management Corp now owns 7,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 75,402 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,360,000 after acquiring an additional 2,258 shares during the period. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 12,839 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,445,000 after buying an additional 894 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $155.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $161.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.93. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 146,824 shares of company stock worth $25,086,603 in the last three months. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $203.94.

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.