Milestone Asset Management Group LLC Buys New Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Milestone Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 11,625 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,201,000. Alphabet makes up 2.0% of Milestone Asset Management Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Bennett Selby Investments LP increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Bennett Selby Investments LP now owns 1,354 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 2,381 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $457,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,527 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Finally, Burt Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Burt Wealth Advisors now owns 5,307 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Alphabet from $195.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $167.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $200.00 price objective (down from $230.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $165.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $2.13 on Friday, reaching $169.73. 52,598,920 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 29,949,599. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $159.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $174.56. The company has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's payout ratio is 9.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $1,837,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 261,966 shares in the company, valued at $45,844,050. The trade was a 3.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,813 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,192,275. This trade represents a 8.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 164,533 shares of company stock valued at $26,772,774. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

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.