Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 33.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,236 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,819 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,011,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,154,000 after buying an additional 2,416,328 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,035,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,453,856,000 after buying an additional 335,219 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 7.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 25,064,614 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,279,955,000 after buying an additional 1,809,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 9.3% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 24,145,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,159,669,000 after buying an additional 2,058,221 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765. 0.88% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Alphabet from $172.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Mizuho raised their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.60.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4 %

Alphabet stock opened at $167.24 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $142.12. The company has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a PEG 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 fifty-two week low of $103.97 and a fifty-two week high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during 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 in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s 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.