Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Buys 10,234 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 89,420 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,234 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.8% of Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,927,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mason & Associates Inc lifted its position in Alphabet by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Mason & Associates Inc now owns 7,027 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,330,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,601 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Flywheel Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $210,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,386 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $830,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rovin Capital UT ADV lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 9,910 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 over the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.15.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6 %

Alphabet stock opened at $196.00 on Friday. 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 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42. The company has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $184.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

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.