Park Avenue Securities LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 17.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 231,919 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 33,921 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $43,902,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Denver PWM LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 19.0% during the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock traded up $3.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $196.00. The stock had a trading volume of 27,621,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,977,725. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.33. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $201.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market cap of $2.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 10.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total transaction of $3,990,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,084,306 shares of the company's stock, valued at $369,672,512.16. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $208.15.

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.