Parker Investment Management LLC Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Parker Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 39.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 309,437 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 87,676 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 9.1% of Parker Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Parker Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $58,577,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Claris Advisors LLC MO grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 187.2% during the 4th quarter. Claris Advisors LLC MO now owns 4,113 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $779,000 after purchasing an additional 2,681 shares in the last quarter. Clare Market Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $17,713,000. Vista Investment Partners II LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $955,000. Morton Community Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $3,231,000. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 284,919 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,935,000 after purchasing an additional 32,599 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total value of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $163.99 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $182.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.51. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.22 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (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, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business 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 currently 9.94%.

About Alphabet

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.