Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Boosted by Balentine LLC

Balentine LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,768 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth 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. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Denver PWM LLC raised its position 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 during the period. Finally, Ignite Planners LLC raised 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 valued at $2,892,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was 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 sold 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $179.66 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 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 current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $192.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $175.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s dividend 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.