Erste Asset Management GmbH Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Erste Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 11.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,348,875 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 142,583 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.0% of Erste Asset Management GmbH’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $247,605,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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. raised its position in shares of 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 lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. KeyCorp cut their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at $3,961,445.55. The trade was a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of GOOGL opened at $167.68 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $182.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.73. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $147.22 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.