Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,040,236 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 43,468 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.6% of Capital Group Private Client Services Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $388,543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Westpark Capital assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $210.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $210.88.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $2.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $153.36. 19,461,666 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,427,163. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $167.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.55. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total transaction of $33,106.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,340 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,163 shares of company stock worth $25,361,647 in the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

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.