Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Holdings Raised by Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,243,885 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,745 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.3% of Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $235,467,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% in the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 728,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $120,834,000 after purchasing an additional 46,677 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares during the last quarter. Holistic Planning LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 18.2% in the third quarter. Holistic Planning LLC now owns 10,895 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,807,000 after purchasing an additional 1,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Provident Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the third quarter. Provident Trust Co. now owns 3,476,456 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $576,570,000 after purchasing an additional 36,190 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $163.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.00 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $182.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.51. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.22 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.