Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 74.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,321 shares during the quarter. Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $586,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the third quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 81,302 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,484,000 after purchasing an additional 7,247 shares during the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 37,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,172,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,567,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Partnership Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 40.5% during the third quarter. Partnership Wealth Management LLC now owns 801 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $133,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the period. Finally, First PREMIER Bank boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 1,655 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $210.62.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $185.23 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.66 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.91 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by 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.