Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Purchased by Park Avenue Securities LLC

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 231,919 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,921 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $43,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $842,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.1% during the second quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 9,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,673,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 156.9% in the second quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 48,966 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,919,000 after purchasing an additional 29,903 shares during the period. Finally, Prospect Hill Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% during the second quarter. Prospect Hill Management LLC now owns 27,220 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,958,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $192.91 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $183.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.20. The stock has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.58, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.66 and a twelve month high of $201.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $217.00 price target (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.15.

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.