Ethic Inc. Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ethic Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 592,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 76,452 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.3% of Ethic Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $112,127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.9 %

Alphabet stock opened at $154.28 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. This represents a 15.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 146,824 shares of company stock valued at $25,086,603. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

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.