Milestone Asset Management LLC Acquires 296 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Milestone Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,034 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Milestone Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $764,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during 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 buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Denver PWM LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Scotiabank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Wolfe Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Ten investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $191.60 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.66 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $190.83 and a 200 day moving average of $174.52.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. 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.