Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by Confluence Wealth Services Inc.

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,409 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,864,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Denver PWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Ignite Planners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 15,078 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,892,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 7,433 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,407,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wedbush increased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. 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. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5 %

GOOGL stock opened at $185.23 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.66 and a twelve month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Alphabet Company 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.