Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,804 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.6% of Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Capital & Planning LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 4,383 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $830,000 after purchasing an additional 1,119 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,490,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $154,716,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. UBS Group set a $195.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,377,014.99. This represents a 4.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 195,770 shares of company stock valued at $32,036,638 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $176.09 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $207.05. The business has a 50-day moving average of $160.52 and a 200-day moving average of $174.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.87, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.