Sovran Advisors LLC Invests $1.46 Million in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sovran Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,686 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,458,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th 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 during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Denver PWM LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the period. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.7 %

GOOGL stock opened at $179.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.99. 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 $130.66 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $192.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $175.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 134,299 shares of company stock worth $25,055,751. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company 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.