Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC Buys Shares of 5,150 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Leigh Baldwin & CO. LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,150 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $975,000.

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 49,037 shares in the company, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 7,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.6%

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $4.43 on Tuesday, hitting $172.90. The company's stock had a trading volume of 37,917,640 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,780,742. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $158.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.76. The firm has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.48, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. 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 MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $199.75.

Alphabet 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.