Capital Investment Advisors LLC Buys 9,222 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 397,924 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,222 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.5% of Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $75,327,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Denver PWM LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 25.4% during the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,663 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $607,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. MKT Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 7,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% during the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,406,343.27. This trade represents a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 154,387 shares of company stock valued at $27,748,931 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4 %

GOOGL traded down $2.78 on Monday, hitting $189.26. 8,860,187 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,064,137. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $182.62 and its 200-day moving average is $172.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $201.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.10, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

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.