Continuum Advisory LLC Boosts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Continuum Advisory LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,788 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.8% of Continuum Advisory LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Continuum Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,017,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $163.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $158.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $207.05.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

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.