Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Bought by J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 70,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,236 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,894,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Meritage Group LP grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 165.8% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 31.0% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 301.5% during the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 522 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.2 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $171.95 on Monday. 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 stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average is $147.85 and its 200-day moving average is $141.42. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.54 and a 1 year high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $164.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. JMP Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.82.

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.