Financial Security Advisor Inc. Has $7.39 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Financial Security Advisor Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,055 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,794 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.9% of Financial Security Advisor Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Financial Security Advisor Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,393,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,910,838,000 after buying an additional 743,369 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,154,651,000 after buying an additional 2,626,431 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Alphabet by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,559,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567,275 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 49,857,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,268,933,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237,385 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,233,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,175,106,000 after purchasing an additional 523,416 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. KeyCorp increased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wedbush raised their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Ten research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. The trade was a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 95,882 shares of company stock valued at $17,934,130 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $162.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.39. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.03 and a one year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.