Walker Asset Management LLC Grows Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Walker Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,007 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 382 shares during the quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $569,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lantz Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $218,000. Stonebrook Private Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.4% during the second quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 16,616 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,027,000 after acquiring an additional 1,695 shares during the period. Parcion Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 22,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,161,000 after buying an additional 2,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Umpqua Bank raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Umpqua Bank now owns 44,719 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,146,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $196.00 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $184.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.34. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week 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. The firm has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Tigress Financial raised their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.15.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654 over 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.