Tortoise Investment Management LLC Purchases 543 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Tortoise Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,789 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the period. Tortoise Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Meritage Group LP raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 55.9% during the fourth quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 343 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays raised their price target on Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.26.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL traded up $1.63 on Friday, reaching $176.79. The stock had a trading volume of 18,063,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,874,168. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market capitalization of $2.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.35 and a fifty-two week high of $180.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $168.08 and a 200-day moving average of $151.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total transaction of $266,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 3,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $663,107.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.78, for a total value of $3,347,550.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,310,191 shares in the company, valued at approximately $343,710,216.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.92, for a total value of $266,880.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,727 shares in the company, valued at $663,107.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 158,958 shares of company stock worth $25,805,853. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.