Austin Asset Management Co Inc Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Austin Asset Management Co Inc grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 20.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,288 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 738 shares during the quarter. Austin Asset Management Co Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $812,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $36,910,838,000 after purchasing an additional 743,369 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after buying an additional 2,626,431 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd 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 period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,268,933,000 after buying an additional 1,237,385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,175,106,000 after buying an additional 523,416 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 worth $16,600,078 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 target price (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $185.23 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $192.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 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 PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. 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.