Boltwood Capital Management Acquires 886 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Boltwood Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,593 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 886 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.4% of Boltwood Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Boltwood Capital Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 100,467 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,018,000 after buying an additional 4,377 shares in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $77,000. NRI Wealth Management LC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $239,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,970 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,789,000 after purchasing an additional 11,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co of the South grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 5,045 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $955,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. China Renaissance upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.44.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $5.81 during trading on Monday, reaching $197.60. 9,645,903 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,814,833. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $201.42. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $180.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.21, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total transaction of $247,425.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.