Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 107,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,143 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.8% of Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,343,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,864,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Ten equities 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.0 %

Alphabet stock opened at $163.89 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $183.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $176.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $146.74 and a one year high of $207.05.

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 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.