Northeast Financial Consultants Inc Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Northeast Financial Consultants Inc grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 190,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 396 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.5% of Northeast Financial Consultants Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $35,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,145 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,542,000 after buying an additional 486 shares during the period. Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $2,965,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 2,615,843 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $495,179,000 after buying an additional 12,529 shares during the period. Obermeyer Wealth Partners increased its position in Alphabet by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Obermeyer Wealth Partners now owns 38,451 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,279,000 after purchasing an additional 2,088 shares during the period. Finally, Maven Securities LTD increased its position in Alphabet by 147.6% during the 4th quarter. Maven Securities LTD now owns 13,320 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,521,000 after purchasing an additional 41,320 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $159.53 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $158.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $175.12. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $199.75.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.