7,059 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Acquired by Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc.

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 7,059 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $986,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $29,746,764,000 after acquiring an additional 12,070,681 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4,894.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,445,396 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,606,670,000 after acquiring an additional 5,336,359 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $634,465,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $601,545,000. Finally, Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $407,367,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $187.82.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $15.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $171.95. 64,665,299 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 25,802,202. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $103.54 and a 1-year high of $174.71. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 2.10 and a quick ratio of 2.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total value of $3,291,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,377,691 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $347,832,416.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total transaction of $369,096.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578 in the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

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.