Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 7,059 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $986,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meritage Group LP raised its position in Alphabet by 1,061.5% in the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 165.8% in the third quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the period. Armor Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its position in Alphabet by 301.5% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 522 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $174.00 to $196.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.82.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total value of $94,769.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,009,032.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 10.2 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $171.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.10. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $147.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $141.42. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $103.54 and a one year high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

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.