Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 51,909 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 470 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,591,000 after acquiring an additional 4,664 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 15,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,096,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% during the third quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 15,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,061,000 after acquiring an additional 1,385 shares during the last quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% during the third quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $998,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the period. Finally, Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,700 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Loop Capital increased their price target on Alphabet from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp increased their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.60.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $167.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.97 and a 1 year high of $174.71. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $149.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total value of $93,086.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 28,602 shares in the company, valued at $3,903,886.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.49, for a total transaction of $93,086.18. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 28,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,903,886.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.51, for a total transaction of $41,853.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,291 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,296,187.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

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.