Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Boosted by NewEdge Wealth LLC

NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 732,060 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 42,122 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.4% of NewEdge Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. NewEdge Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $138,579,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP lifted its stake 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 worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,864,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th 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, Addison Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 97,182 shares of company stock worth $18,192,354. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased 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. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $164.04 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $187.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.38, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $137.03 and a 52 week high of $207.05. 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 released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.