Vertex Planning Partners LLC Has $766,000 Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Vertex Planning Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,048 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. Vertex Planning Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the third quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 11,817 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,960,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. StoneX Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 37,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,257,000 after purchasing an additional 6,372 shares during the last quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $642,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Westpark Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Down 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $145.60 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $145.38 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $1.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $175.15 and a 200-day moving average of $176.93.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s dividend 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.