Means Investment CO. Inc. Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Means Investment CO. Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,339 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,401 shares during the quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,661,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Denver PWM LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $185.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.66 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $191.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $174.76.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.91 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet 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.