Alesco Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Alesco Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,504 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Alesco Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $853,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Ten investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $165.49 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $185.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.46. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.03 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.56, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 95,882 shares of company stock valued at $17,934,130. 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.