Zhang Financial LLC Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Zhang Financial LLC increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 39,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,769 shares during the quarter. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after acquiring an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4,894.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,606,670,000 after acquiring an additional 5,336,359 shares during the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $634,465,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $601,545,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $407,367,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,566,519.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price (up from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.2 %

Alphabet stock opened at $171.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $147.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $141.42. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $103.54 and a 52 week high of $174.71.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Alphabet Company 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.