Walker Asset Management LLC Purchases 382 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Walker Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,007 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $569,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boston Common Asset Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 39.0% during the 4th quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 133,449 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $25,262,000 after purchasing an additional 37,449 shares in the last quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 27,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,277,000 after buying an additional 3,153 shares during the last quarter. CNB Bank grew its position in Alphabet by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. CNB Bank now owns 21,095 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,993,000 after purchasing an additional 2,496 shares during the last quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. now owns 2,982 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $565,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $70,378,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total transaction of $3,990,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,084,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,672,512.16. This represents a 1.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,741,643.48. This trade represents a 3.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6 %

GOOGL opened at $196.00 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The company has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s fifty day moving average is $184.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.34. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $201.42.

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, 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 company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend 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.