Liberty Wealth Management LLC Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Liberty Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 20.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,114 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,906 shares during the quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,104,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 782,756 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $148,176,000 after purchasing an additional 11,658 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 15,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,887,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Austin Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,491 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,272,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. SHEPHERD WEALTH MANAGEMENT Ltd LIABILITY Co acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $2,422,000. Finally, Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $950,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 in the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $167.68 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $182.10 and its 200-day moving average is $176.73. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $147.22 and a one year high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.83, 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 current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Wedbush upped their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Ten investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.59.

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.