Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 88,726 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 783 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.4% of Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hudson Edge Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,387,000. Bell Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in Alphabet by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Bell Asset Management Ltd now owns 318,138 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,441,000 after buying an additional 63,107 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 632,198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $88,312,000 after buying an additional 66,500 shares during the period. Kodai Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $168,008,000. Finally, Premier Fund Managers Ltd lifted its stake in Alphabet by 66.0% in the fourth quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 83,650 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,731,000 after buying an additional 33,250 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL traded down $3.37 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $162.78. 33,503,634 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,866,035. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $148.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $103.71 and a fifty-two week high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 253,289 shares of company stock valued at $36,724,534 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays raised their price target on Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $189.74.

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.