Balentine LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Balentine LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 42.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 86,050 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,753 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.4% of Balentine LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Balentine LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,020,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after acquiring an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $15,441,917,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,154,000 after acquiring an additional 2,416,328 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,316,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,043 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,910,194 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,876,605,000 after acquiring an additional 874,919 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.8 %

Alphabet stock opened at $174.99 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.84, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.15 and a quick ratio of 2.15. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.35 and a 1 year high of $178.77. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $160.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The firm had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $168.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.57.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 205,935 shares of company stock valued at $31,178,987. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet 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.