Advisors Asset Management Inc. Purchases 21,088 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 586,569 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,088 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.0% of Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $111,038,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Custos Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $285,000. Clarity Wealth Development LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $273,000. Taylor Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $212,000. PDS Planning Inc increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 32,662 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,802 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 18,304 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,465,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. The trade was a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 4.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $154.33 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $147.22 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.92. The company has a market cap of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

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, beating 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 research analysts predict 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. 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 yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.59.

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.