Guardian Partners Inc. Purchases Shares of 61,059 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Guardian Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 61,059 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,842,000. Alphabet comprises about 1.2% of Guardian Partners Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,871,384,000 after buying an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. BIP Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. BIP Wealth LLC now owns 7,302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,211,000 after buying an additional 354 shares during the last quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 17.1% during the third quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 18,261 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,029,000 after buying an additional 2,670 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 23.8% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 163,970 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,194,000 after purchasing an additional 31,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 96,294 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $15,970,000 after buying an additional 2,358 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.49.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 87,297 shares of company stock worth $15,936,270 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $157.04 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $147.22 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $177.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities research analysts forecast 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 paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.