Cape Investment Advisory Inc. Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,619 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.5% of Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $22,154,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake 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 worth $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 50,615,038 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,581,427,000 after buying an additional 757,138 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,175,106,000 after buying an additional 523,416 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

GOOGL stock opened at $165.49 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.03 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $185.70 and its 200 day moving average is $176.46. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (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%. On average, research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a 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, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 95,882 shares of company stock worth $17,934,130. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.