Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) is Brick & Kyle Associates' 4th Largest Position

Brick & Kyle Associates lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 58,311 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,168 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 4.7% of Brick & Kyle Associates' portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Brick & Kyle Associates' holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rockbridge Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $3,119,000. Optivise Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,035,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Community Bank N.A. now owns 46,173 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,741,000 after buying an additional 2,790 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 61,792 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,816,000 after buying an additional 14,262 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Absolute Capital Management LLC now owns 2,096 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $401,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 673 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 164,654 shares of company stock worth $26,793,380. Insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Ten research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $0.54 on Wednesday, reaching $172.36. 34,438,063 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,799,500. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.75. The stock has a market cap of $2.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost 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 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.