Plato Investment Management Ltd Acquires 8,269 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Plato Investment Management Ltd boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 141,088 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,269 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.0% of Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,805,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% during the third quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 27.9% during the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,516 shares during the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 22.9% during the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 61,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,206,000 after purchasing an additional 11,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 22.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 23,164 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,385,000 after purchasing an additional 4,285 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Citigroup reduced their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $165.49 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.46. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.03 and a 12-month high of $207.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were 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 owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 95,882 shares of company stock worth $17,934,130. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.