Baring Financial LLC Buys Shares of 4,071 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Baring Financial LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,071 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $771,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Gries Financial LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Gries Financial LLC now owns 15,375 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,910,000 after acquiring an additional 2,086 shares during the last quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 45,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,598,000 after purchasing an additional 6,653 shares during the period. Milestone Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Milestone Asset Management LLC now owns 4,034 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $764,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $227,000. Finally, Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $273,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

Alphabet stock opened at $191.60 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % 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, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.