Howard Financial Services LTD. Acquires 6,015 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Howard Financial Services LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 101.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,972 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,015 shares during the period. Howard Financial Services LTD.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $842,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 30.8% during the 2nd quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 36,108 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,577,000 after purchasing an additional 8,511 shares during the last quarter. Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wilkinson Global Asset Management LLC now owns 5,197 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $947,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the second quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 6,497 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wedbush increased their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $208.15.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $2.05 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $198.05. 29,356,516 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,514,902. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The company has a market capitalization of $2.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.98. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $202.29. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $184.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.33.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total value of $234,331.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,516,745.58. This trade represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654 in the last three months. Corporate 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.