Howard Capital Management Group LLC Acquires 986 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 308,166 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 986 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 4.0% of Howard Capital Management Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Howard Capital Management Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $58,336,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JBGlobal.com LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $993,000. Exchange Bank increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Bank now owns 8,986 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,701,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 46.9% in the fourth quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 122,756 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,238,000 after purchasing an additional 39,208 shares during the period. Transform Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 148,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,152,000 after purchasing an additional 6,930 shares during the period. Finally, Chesley Taft & Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC now owns 120,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,896,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.44.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $200.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $186.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $173.80. 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 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $202.29.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,029.04. This trade represents a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.