Congress Asset Management Co. Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Congress Asset Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,101,558 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 76,031 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.4% of Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $208,525,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $922,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 18.8% during the third quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 105,949 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,572,000 after purchasing an additional 16,758 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 84,752 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,056,000 after acquiring an additional 1,161 shares during the period. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.2% in the third quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. now owns 9,355 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,552,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Finally, Lee Johnson Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $4,056,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,188 shares of company stock worth $25,036,883 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $168.27 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $191.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $176.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 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.