Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Position Boosted by CCM Investment Advisers LLC

CCM Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 168,571 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 2.9% of CCM Investment Advisers LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. CCM Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,548,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.0% in the third quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 13,891 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,818,000 after purchasing an additional 2,017 shares during the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.6% during the third quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 48,561 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,355,000 after buying an additional 3,013 shares during the last quarter. Integris Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Integris Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 1,700,781 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $222,565,000 after purchasing an additional 27,616 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stiles Financial Services Inc raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 30,625 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,008,000 after purchasing an additional 1,340 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.50, for a total transaction of $74,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,254.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.50, for a total value of $74,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,791 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,314,254.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.78, for a total value of $3,347,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,310,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $343,710,216.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 158,958 shares of company stock valued at $25,805,853. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $195.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $193.26.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock traded up $1.63 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $176.79. The stock had a trading volume of 18,063,555 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,874,168. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $168.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $151.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $2.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.35 and a 52-week high of $180.41.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

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.