Clare Market Investments LLC Acquires New Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Clare Market Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 93,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $17,713,000. Alphabet comprises about 4.2% of Clare Market Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Vista Investment Partners II LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $955,000. Morton Community Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $3,231,000. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its position in Alphabet by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 284,919 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,935,000 after purchasing an additional 32,599 shares during the last quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,005 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,301,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $336,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7 %

Alphabet stock opened at $163.99 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $182.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.51. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $147.22 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, 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, 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%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid 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 was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company 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.