2,561 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Bought by BTS Asset Management Inc.

BTS Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 2,561 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $485,000. Alphabet makes up about 0.5% of BTS Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 101.0% during the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 11,972 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,266,000 after purchasing an additional 6,015 shares in the last quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Alhambra Investment Management LLC now owns 19,581 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,707,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $311,000. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 23,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,409,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 513.4% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 1,424,014 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $269,566,000 after purchasing an additional 1,191,880 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,516,745.58. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $196.00 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $184.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $173.25. The stock has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.99, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $201.42.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Roth Mkm lifted their target price on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.15.

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.