Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. Has $3.27 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Investment Partners Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.6% of Investment Partners Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Investment Partners Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. G&S Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 2,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $507,000 after buying an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. Avestar Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 79,015 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,958,000 after buying an additional 3,930 shares during the period. MGB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. MGB Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,934 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,643,000 after buying an additional 683 shares during the period. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Morris Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 2,794 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Bailey Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. Howard Bailey Securities LLC now owns 2,771 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $525,000 after purchasing an additional 749 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $179.25 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.