Premier Fund Managers Ltd Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 30.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,262 shares during the quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares during the last quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% during the third quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 11,817 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,960,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the period. StoneX Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 20.3% during the third quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 37,725 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,257,000 after acquiring an additional 6,372 shares during the last quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the third quarter. Family Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,153,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $642,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $145.60 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $175.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.93. The stock has a market cap of $1.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $145.38 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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 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%. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.55%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This represents a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.