Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC Buys 916 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,601 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 916 shares during the period. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,060,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 216,766 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $41,034,000 after purchasing an additional 1,986 shares during the last quarter. Brown University bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,679,000. Cibc World Markets Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 42.1% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 2,967,895 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $561,823,000 after buying an additional 878,698 shares during the last quarter. SouthState Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 66,109 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,514,000 after buying an additional 698 shares during the period. Finally, Gray Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Gray Wealth Management Inc. now owns 22,735 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,304,000 after acquiring an additional 832 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. 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. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.59.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $154.33 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $179.66 and a 200-day moving average of $176.72. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $147.22 and a one year high of $207.05. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. The trade was a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.