ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Has $4.91 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,148 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 803 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Meritage Group LP increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA increased its holdings 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 buying an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total value of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the sale, 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. Insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Redburn Atlantic upped their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup upped their target price on Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.2 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $171.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $103.54 and a one year high of $174.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $147.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.