HBW Advisory Services LLC Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 20.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 33,155 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,602 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of HBW Advisory Services LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. HBW Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Tigress Financial raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.08.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $0.57 on Friday, hitting $193.38. 17,819,715 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 22,823,910. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.66 and a fifty-two week high of $201.42. The company has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $182.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.01.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.95, for a total value of $247,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 26,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,342,143.80. This represents a 5.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. This trade represents a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock worth $27,996,356. Corporate insiders own 11.55% 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.