Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Acquired by Kesler Norman & Wride LLC

Kesler Norman & Wride LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 7.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,061 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,772 shares during the quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,744,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 222,555,548 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $36,910,838,000 after purchasing an additional 743,369 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 134,030,679 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,154,651,000 after buying an additional 2,626,431 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Alphabet by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 66,050,135 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,503,291,000 after buying an additional 9,042,271 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Alphabet by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 63,667,407 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,559,240,000 after acquiring an additional 4,567,275 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $430,917,877.76. This represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total transaction of $550,702.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,468,029.04. The trade was a 13.70 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 119,797 shares of company stock valued at $21,089,470. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $4.32 on Friday, reaching $157.14. 33,590,459 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,213,740. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $168.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.92 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.52, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wolfe Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $225.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $206.51.

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.