Grandfield & Dodd LLC Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 28.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 105,061 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,269 shares during the period. Grandfield & Dodd LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $19,888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 101,119 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,348,000 after acquiring an additional 12,555 shares during the period. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 669,487 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $126,734,000 after acquiring an additional 82,124 shares during the period. Alesco Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Alesco Advisors LLC now owns 4,504 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $853,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. Finally, DJE Kapital AG purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,456,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup reduced their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. DZ Bank downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $165.49 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.03 and a one year high of $207.05. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $185.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.56.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,445.55. The trade was a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. 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.