Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 92,781 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 748 shares during the period. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,563,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Denver PWM LLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wedbush lifted their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $173.86 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $134.00 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.60, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.40.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 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.