NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Acquires 4,815 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 304,758 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,815 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.7% of NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $57,691,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burt Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $1,837,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 261,966 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.6%

GOOGL stock opened at $172.90 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $158.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.75.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Alphabet Company 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.