Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 30,352 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,746,000. Alphabet accounts for about 2.5% of Dale Q Rice Investment Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Schear Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the third quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 33,751 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,598,000 after buying an additional 4,905 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Trinity Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,423 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $771,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 27.9% in the third quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 25,275 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,192,000 after purchasing an additional 5,516 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc increased its position in Alphabet by 10.7% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,305,717 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,037,196,000 after purchasing an additional 611,233 shares during the last quarter. Finally, StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% during the third quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 21,509 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,567,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.6 %

GOOGL traded up $4.87 on Wednesday, hitting $194.53. The company had a trading volume of 4,407,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,005,467. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. 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 fifty day moving average price of $183.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $201.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given 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 presently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Nine 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $208.15.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company's stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 3.08 % 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, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total value of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 130,553 shares of company stock worth $23,817,951. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.