Auxano Advisors LLC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Auxano Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,259 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 862 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.2% of Auxano Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Auxano Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,684,197 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,857,154,000 after buying an additional 2,416,328 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 34,035,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,453,856,000 after buying an additional 335,219 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 7.8% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 25,064,614 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,279,955,000 after buying an additional 1,809,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9.3% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 24,145,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,159,669,000 after buying an additional 2,058,221 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $169.38 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $107.19 and a 12-month high of $174.71. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average of $151.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $66.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 252,629 shares of company stock valued at $37,091,240. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Wedbush increased their target price on Alphabet from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.60.

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.