Headland Capital LLC Purchases New Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Headland Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,092 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 34,564 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,543,000 after purchasing an additional 3,152 shares during the period. GG Group Ventures LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. GG Group Ventures LLC now owns 5,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,008,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $51,000. Paulson & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $1,904,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 5,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,036,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $160.16 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $161.20 and a 200 day moving average of $175.49. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The firm has a market cap of $1.95 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $189.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.89.

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.