2,863 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Bought by Ames National Corp

Ames National Corp purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 2,863 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $542,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $47,025,322,000 after purchasing an additional 22,100,902 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after purchasing an additional 10,135,430 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,033,086 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,635,878,000 after purchasing an additional 10,037,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.9% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 9,042,271 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 price target (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,293,285.89. The trade was a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at $413,555,306.40. This represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $163.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $1.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50-day moving average is $158.23 and its 200-day moving average is $174.93. 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

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.

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