Garland Capital Management Inc. Invests $663,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Garland Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $663,000. Alphabet comprises about 0.5% of Garland Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Denver PWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, DZ Bank cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Ten investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.49.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 88,665 shares of company stock valued at $16,198,310. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $157.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.22 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $177.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Alphabet 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.