John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,702 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the third 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. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the third 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,035,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,453,856,000 after acquiring an additional 335,219 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 25,064,614 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,279,955,000 after acquiring an additional 1,809,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 24,145,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,159,669,000 after acquiring an additional 2,058,221 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was 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 approximately $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was 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 approximately $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 253,439 shares of company stock valued at $36,746,578 in the last 90 days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 10.2 %

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $171.95 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $103.54 and a twelve month high of $174.71. The company has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average is $147.85 and its 200 day moving average is $141.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.01% and a net margin of 25.90%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on Alphabet from $164.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alphabet from $165.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.82.

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.