Wedmont Private Capital Has $16.51 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 85,992 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,602 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.9% of Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,514,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Lantz Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Vance Wealth Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the second quarter. Vance Wealth Inc. now owns 3,089 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Tobam boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 64.3% during the 2nd quarter. Tobam now owns 24,833 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,523,000 after acquiring an additional 9,718 shares during the period. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 427,320 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $77,836,000 after acquiring an additional 19,423 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL traded down $1.63 during trading on Monday, hitting $190.41. 11,815,714 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,570,484. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $182.62 and its 200 day moving average is $172.95. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $201.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market cap of $2.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $210.00 target price (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. China Renaissance raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.15.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 16,490 shares in the company, valued at $2,820,779.40. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,961,445.55. This trade represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 154,387 shares of company stock valued at $27,748,931. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Alphabet

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.