Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by West Family Investments Inc.

West Family Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 33,341 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,514 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 2.2% of West Family Investments Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,311,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $4,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,516 shares during the period. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares during the period. Olistico Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 22.9% in the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 61,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,206,000 after buying an additional 11,481 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $229.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $163.89 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.74 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $183.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $176.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.