Terra Alpha Investments LLC Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Terra Alpha Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 28,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,343,000. Alphabet accounts for 5.4% of Terra Alpha Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% during 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 stake in Alphabet by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 728,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $120,834,000 after buying an additional 46,677 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,871,384,000 after buying an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 20.7% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 3,145 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the period. Finally, Curi RMB Capital LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC now owns 335,698 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $55,676,000 after acquiring an additional 11,722 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Wolfe Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. 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.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.59.

Alphabet Trading Down 4.9 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $154.33 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $179.66 and a 200 day moving average of $176.72. The company has a market capitalization of $1.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.17, 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 current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $147.22 and a 1 year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.