Searle & CO. Buys 100 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Searle & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Searle & CO.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. RMR Wealth Builders lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 56.4% during the 3rd quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 21,869 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,862,000 after purchasing an additional 7,882 shares in the last quarter. Suncoast Equity Management raised its position in Alphabet by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Suncoast Equity Management now owns 123,934 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,218,000 after buying an additional 8,306 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Management raised its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Management now owns 39,797 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,208,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. Cumberland Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,280,000 after buying an additional 4,340 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $169.96 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $152.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $143.01. The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $107.93 and a 1 year high of $174.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total transaction of $3,753,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,280,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 252,629 shares of company stock worth $37,091,240. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Redburn Atlantic lifted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $190.60.

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.