Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,797 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,361 shares during the quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 518.8% during the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $159.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL traded up $1.07 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $159.53. 42,265,460 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 28,893,664. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $158.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $175.22. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.53%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 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.