Absolute Capital Management LLC Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Absolute Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. Absolute Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 237.9% in the fourth quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 77,728 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,714,000 after buying an additional 54,726 shares during the last quarter. Holderness Investments Co. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Holderness Investments Co. now owns 42,514 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,048,000 after acquiring an additional 803 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 259,777 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $49,176,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682 shares in the last quarter. BluePointe Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 54.0% during the 4th quarter. BluePointe Capital Management LLC now owns 5,783 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,095,000 after acquiring an additional 2,027 shares during the period. Finally, Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 171,889 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $32,538,000 after purchasing an additional 4,964 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet 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 sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, 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 a total of 87,992 shares of company stock valued at $16,093,773 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. DZ Bank cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned 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 $209.49.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $154.64 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $147.22 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $178.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $177.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. 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.