Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Has $6.31 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,829 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,479 shares during the quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $24,383,677,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 248,416,916 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $47,025,322,000 after buying an additional 22,100,902 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 16,993.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,062,457 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,483,898,000 after buying an additional 15,968,487 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 69,616,854 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $13,178,470,000 after acquiring an additional 10,135,430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 16.2% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 10,037,685 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total value of $5,742,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,555,196 shares in the company, valued at $451,452,029.28. The trade was a 1.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 228,070 shares of company stock valued at $37,745,632 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock traded up $3.91 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $170.68. The stock had a trading volume of 34,362,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,801,769. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $165.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.61. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.07 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.54% and a net margin of 30.86%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Westpark Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wedbush set a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $200.17.

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.