Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,447 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.9% of Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,584,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Meritage Group LP lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1,061.5% in the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 276 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 165.8% in the third quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $55,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 301.5% in the fourth quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 522 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Redburn Atlantic increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $190.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.73, for a total transaction of $119,784.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,164 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,072,665.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares in the company, valued at $347,832,416.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 275,129 shares of company stock worth $40,382,765 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $163.86 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $149.22 and a 200-day moving average of $141.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $103.71 and a 12 month high of $174.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%.

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.