Baron Wealth Management LLC Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Baron Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.4% of Baron Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Baron Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $933,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 17.0% during the third quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares during the period. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 27.9% during the 3rd quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after acquiring an additional 5,516 shares during the period. abrdn plc grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 611,233 shares during the period. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,567,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $191.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.99. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.66 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a 50-day moving average of $190.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.52.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. This trade represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.