Atala Financial Inc Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 29,879 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,656,000. Alphabet makes up approximately 4.0% of Atala Financial Inc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 10.1% during the third quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 728,575 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $120,834,000 after buying an additional 46,677 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,871,384,000 after buying an additional 337,031 shares during the period. TRU Independence Asset Management 2 LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $820,000. Finally, GDS Wealth Management increased its position in Alphabet by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 114,056 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,916,000 after purchasing an additional 3,354 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wedbush boosted their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America reissued a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $210.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $7.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $154.33. 48,610,349 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,276,841. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $147.22 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.88 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.