Diversify Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 64.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,871 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 11,679 shares during the quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,736,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Smart Money Group LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Smart Money Group LLC now owns 5,649 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,069,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $207,000. RoundAngle Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $1,953,000. Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 40,306 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,630,000 after purchasing an additional 1,272 shares during the period. Finally, Mandatum Life Insurance Co Ltd increased its position in Alphabet by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Mandatum Life Insurance Co Ltd now owns 49,009 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,277,000 after purchasing an additional 702 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at $52,329,576.64. This trade represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $217.00 target price (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.67.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL traded up $1.11 during trading on Thursday, reaching $199.48. 4,132,065 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,319,691. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $202.29. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $185.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $173.55. The company has a market cap of $2.44 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.47, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Alphabet Company 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.