Capital Market Strategies LLC Has $2.10 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Capital Market Strategies LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,096 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.2% of Capital Market Strategies LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Capital Market Strategies LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,101,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boltwood Capital Management lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 23,593 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,466,000 after purchasing an additional 886 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 100,467 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,018,000 after purchasing an additional 4,377 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $77,000. NRI Wealth Management LC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $239,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 93,970 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,789,000 after purchasing an additional 11,834 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. JMP Securities lowered Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $170.00 target price for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.82.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.0 %

Shares of GOOGL stock traded up $5.81 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $197.60. The stock had a trading volume of 14,338,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,617,457. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $201.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $180.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.46.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.40%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total value of $3,741,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at $350,361,837.80. This trade represents a 1.06 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total transaction of $473,929.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 155,887 shares of company stock valued at $27,996,356. 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.