Motiv8 Investments LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Motiv8 Investments LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 40.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,638 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,204 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.0% of Motiv8 Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Motiv8 Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,446,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the third 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the third 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 buying an additional 2,626,431 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Alphabet by 7.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after buying an additional 4,567,275 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 1,237,385 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. DA Davidson lifted their target price 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. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $167.11 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $186.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.48. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $138.99 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 95,682 shares of company stock worth $17,901,024 over the last ninety days. Corporate 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.