D.A. Davidson & CO. Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 430,117 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,384 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.7% of D.A. Davidson & CO.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $81,421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,798,000 after buying an additional 987 shares during the period. Integrity Financial Corp WA grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 6,977 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,157,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Kaye Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Kaye Capital Management now owns 6,827 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,132,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Ledyard National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ledyard National Bank now owns 109,121 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,098,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Telos Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. now owns 111,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,528,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1 %

GOOGL stock opened at $170.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap 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. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $190.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % 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, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 134,309 shares of company stock valued at $25,057,490 over the last quarter. Corporate 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.