Monument Capital Management Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Monument Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 279.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,994 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,778 shares during the period. Monument Capital Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Aire Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Aire Advisors LLC now owns 11,772 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,645,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Defined Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Defined Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,531 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $354,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,473 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $482,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Peoples Financial Services CORP. increased its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Peoples Financial Services CORP. now owns 16,690 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,331,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Finally, RAM Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. RAM Investment Partners LLC now owns 7,550 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $173.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Redburn Atlantic raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $189.74.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $162.78 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $148.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.79. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $103.71 and a 1 year high of $174.71. The company has a market capitalization of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 3,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.97, for a total transaction of $508,150.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 144,685 shares in the company, valued at $22,566,519.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 48,076 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.20, for a total transaction of $6,836,407.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,725 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,809,495. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 253,289 shares of company stock worth $36,724,534. Company insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

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.