Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Holdings Raised by Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc.

Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,164 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 619 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.9% of Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Butensky & Cohen Financial Security Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,089,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Denver PWM LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth approximately $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,007,191.15. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $196.00 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $130.66 and a 1-year high of $201.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $184.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.25. The company has a market capitalization of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.99, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the company earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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