Howland Capital Management LLC Buys 2,443 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Howland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 37,737 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,443 shares during the period. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,187,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,524 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,337,000 after buying an additional 3,067 shares during the last quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Summit Wealth & Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 5,444 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,566 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $679,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC now owns 8,351 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,590,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $469,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This trade represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $185.43 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.03, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $193.70 and a 200 day moving average of $176.40. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. 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.