19,412 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Bought by St. Clair Advisors LLC

St. Clair Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 19,412 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,675,000. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.1% of St. Clair Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its holdings in Alphabet by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,816,000 after buying an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total value of $32,380.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at $1,232,544.70. The trade was a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $220.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $166.19 on Monday. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $158.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $175.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.