Windle Wealth LLC Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Windle Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,666 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $315,000. Alphabet accounts for about 0.2% of Windle Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 728,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $120,834,000 after buying an additional 46,677 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,871,384,000 after buying an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. Objective Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,820,000. Finally, Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cypress Point Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,617 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $600,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.59.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $163.99 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. 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 50 day simple moving average of $182.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.65. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $147.22 and a 52 week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

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.