Black Diamond Financial LLC Buys 280 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Black Diamond Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,835 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. Black Diamond Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,105,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Schear Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,598,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. increased its position in Alphabet by 27.9% in the 3rd 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 buying an additional 5,516 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc increased its position in Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,037,196,000 after buying an additional 611,233 shares in the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after buying an additional 746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 61,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,206,000 after purchasing an additional 11,481 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 134,316 shares of company stock valued at $25,062,887. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $173.86 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $188.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $176.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $134.00 and a 1 year high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.60, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Alphabet 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.