UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 32.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,935 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,935 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.3% of UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.5 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $159.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.44. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $184.00 to $167.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Mizuho reduced their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, UBS Group set a $190.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $199.64.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,163 shares of company stock valued at $25,361,647 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Profile

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.