Hoge Financial Services LLC Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Hoge Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 24.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,100 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 412 shares during the period. Hoge Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd 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. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 134,309 shares of company stock worth $25,057,490. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $170.33 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $190.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wedbush increased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. DA Davidson increased their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Ten 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet 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.