Avestar Capital LLC Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Avestar Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 79,015 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,930 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.3% of Avestar Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Avestar Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,958,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Drake & Associates LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 43.1% in the 3rd quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 4,411 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $732,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328 shares during the period. Vista Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vista Investment Partners LLC now owns 8,213 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. TruWealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. TruWealth Advisors LLC now owns 14,593 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. NatWest Group plc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 24.4% in the 3rd quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 93,419 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,494,000 after purchasing an additional 18,337 shares during the period. Finally, Strid Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $180,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2 %

GOOGL stock opened at $179.25 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.27, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $192.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 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 dividend yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.