GWN Securities Inc. Acquires New Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

GWN Securities Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,487 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,681,000. Alphabet accounts for about 0.7% of GWN Securities Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Schear Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,598,000 after purchasing an additional 4,905 shares during the last quarter. Permanent Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $273,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 5,516 shares in the last quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 37,054 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,014,000 after buying an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC now owns 8,981 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 746 shares during the last quarter. 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 recently issued reports on the company. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.7 %

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

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 trade represents a 19.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 104,812 shares of company stock valued at $19,336,979. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.