Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC Invests $561,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,966 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $561,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 518.8% in the fourth quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 198 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. PayPay Securities Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 36.1% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Anderson Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9%

GOOGL traded down $1.41 on Thursday, hitting $163.96. The company had a trading volume of 33,049,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,003,681. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $158.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.05. 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 firm has a market capitalization 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. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,824 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total transaction of $529,302.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353 in the last three months. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 31st. UBS Group set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $199.75.

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.