Defined Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Defined Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Defined Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 17.0% in the third quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% in the third quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $771,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. grew its stake in Alphabet by 27.9% in the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,516 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc grew its stake in Alphabet by 10.7% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,037,196,000 after purchasing an additional 611,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,567,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $196.00 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $184.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $173.25. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at $59,741,643.48. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Wedbush raised their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock 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.