Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 37.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,605 shares during the period. Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s 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 directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 93,048 shares of company stock worth $17,374,274 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective 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. DZ Bank cut 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. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $170.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $147.22 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $181.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.