Global Wealth Strategies & Associates Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 25.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,303 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 43,005.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 18,743,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,086,250,000 after purchasing an additional 18,700,111 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 587.4% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 10,690,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,991,000 after buying an additional 9,135,056 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Alphabet by 116.4% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 8,670,225 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,437,957,000 after buying an additional 4,662,809 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 7.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 18,810.2% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 4,434,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $807,700,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410,811 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 137,588 shares of company stock valued at $24,473,081 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2 %

GOOGL stock traded down $0.29 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $189.01. The company had a trading volume of 12,333,594 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,460,176. The company has a market capitalization of $2.31 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.07, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $172.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.69.

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.