Sierra Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sierra Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 46,719 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.0% of Sierra Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Sierra Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,910,838,000 after acquiring an additional 743,369 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,154,651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,268,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,175,106,000 after buying an additional 523,416 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup cut their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Ten 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $173.86 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.60, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $188.21 and a 200 day moving average of $176.54. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $134.00 and a twelve month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,316 shares of company stock worth $25,062,887 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.