Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by Convergence Financial LLC

Convergence Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 959 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.0% of Convergence Financial LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Convergence Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,229,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Nwam LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 63,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,964,000 after purchasing an additional 3,017 shares during the last quarter. GenTrust LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. GenTrust LLC now owns 4,821 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $913,000 after buying an additional 483 shares in the last quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 12,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,381,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,017,000. Finally, NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 732,060 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $138,579,000 after buying an additional 42,122 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $164.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50 day moving average of $187.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.55. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 97,182 shares of company stock worth $18,192,354. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.