Kestra Advisory Services LLC Has $108.06 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Kestra Advisory Services LLC lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 570,829 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 47,641 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 0.6% of Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Kestra Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $108,058,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during 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 lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,626,431 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position 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 valued at $9,581,427,000 after purchasing an additional 757,138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 38,451,718 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,278,910,000 after buying an additional 1,218,639 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $165.06 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $147.22 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $181.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.78.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.