VCI Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

VCI Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,918 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $268,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. FMR LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4,894.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,606,670,000 after buying an additional 5,336,359 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $634,465,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $601,545,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $407,367,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $167.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $103.97 and a 12-month high of $174.71. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $149.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $142.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $200.00 target price (up from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 26th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.60.

Alphabet 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.