Zhang Financial LLC Has $9.54 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Zhang Financial LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,369 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,585 shares during the quarter. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd raised its holdings in Alphabet by 33.4% during the 2nd quarter. NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd now owns 196,304 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,757,000 after purchasing an additional 49,203 shares during the last quarter. Investment Partners LTD. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 14.7% in the second quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 5,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 11,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,158,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551 shares during the last quarter. Lansing Street Advisors grew its holdings in Alphabet by 10.9% during the second quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 8,274 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after purchasing an additional 810 shares during the period. Finally, Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 15,879 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,892,000 after purchasing an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1 %

GOOGL stock opened at $200.21 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $202.29. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $185.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.72. The company has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.44.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.