Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Holdings Lifted by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 38,451,718 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,218,639 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.3% of Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,278,910,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its position in Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.7 %

Alphabet stock opened at $165.49 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $185.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.56. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.03 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.56, a P/E/G 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lowered 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. Wedbush lifted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective 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 assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.62.

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.