Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stake Boosted by Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC

Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 32.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,951 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 717 shares during the quarter. Ironsides Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in Alphabet by 6.8% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 728,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $120,834,000 after acquiring an additional 46,677 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. Saturna Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 1,430,995 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $237,331,000 after acquiring an additional 4,003 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arjuna Capital boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the third quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 102,574 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,012,000 after purchasing an additional 706 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $202.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $162.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $147.22 and a 52 week high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $180.49 and a 200-day moving average of $176.68.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This trade represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 104,812 shares of company stock valued at $19,336,979. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by 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.