Carson Advisory Inc. Invests $566,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Carson Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,990 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $566,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,871,384,000 after acquiring an additional 337,031 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $154,000. Executive Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 13.8% during the third quarter. Executive Wealth Management LLC now owns 48,734 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,083,000 after purchasing an additional 5,926 shares during the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the third quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 77,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,823,000 after buying an additional 1,290 shares during the period. Finally, Conway Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,346,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 115,663 shares of company stock worth $20,286,447 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Alphabet from $208.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $202.46.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $153.33 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $207.05. The company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.05, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $166.53 and a 200-day moving average of $175.98.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.94%.

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.