Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Holdings Increased by DCM Advisors LLC

DCM Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 47.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 48,756 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,699 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 4.3% of DCM Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. DCM Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. AlphaQ Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 38.6% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQ Advisors LLC now owns 9,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,753,000 after buying an additional 2,580 shares in the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 10,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,906,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the period. 10Elms LLP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $401,000. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Taylor Hoffman Capital Management LLC now owns 39,664 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,508,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 1,855,221 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $351,193,000 after acquiring an additional 113,147 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. This represents a 8.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5%

Alphabet stock opened at $163.98 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $158.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.93. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

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.