Ethic Inc. Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Ethic Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 592,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 76,452 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.3% of Ethic Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $112,127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bennett Selby Investments LP raised its holdings in 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 increased its stake in Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $245,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Conrad Siegel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,845 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,864,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Addison Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $154.28 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.18. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.75.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. The trade was a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 146,824 shares of company stock valued at $25,086,603. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.