Boston Common Asset Management LLC Buys 37,449 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 39.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 133,449 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 37,449 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $25,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 27,878 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,277,000 after purchasing an additional 3,153 shares in the last quarter. CNB Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. CNB Bank now owns 21,095 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,993,000 after buying an additional 2,496 shares during the period. Saxon Interests Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Saxon Interests Inc. now owns 2,982 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $565,000 after acquiring an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $70,378,000. Finally, Wealthcare Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Capital Management LLC now owns 2,769 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $524,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL traded up $3.09 on Monday, hitting $196.00. 27,621,897 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,105,888. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $184.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $130.66 and a 52 week high of $201.42.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % 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 Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. This represents a 3.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 133,387 shares of company stock worth $24,368,654. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, China Renaissance upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $208.15.

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.