Heritage Financial Services LLC Purchases 220 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Heritage Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,455 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Heritage Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $654,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Denver PWM LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 25.4% in the third quarter. Denver PWM LLC now owns 281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $66,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. China Renaissance raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wedbush increased their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $185.34 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a fifty day moving average of $191.28 and a 200-day moving average of $174.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total transaction of $291,330.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.