Donaldson Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 67,772 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,326 shares during the period. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $15,441,917,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 227,317,469 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,746,764,000 after purchasing an additional 12,070,681 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 493,810,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $68,980,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,374,756 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its stake in Alphabet by 39,754.9% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 6,025,667 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $841,725,000 after buying an additional 6,010,548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4,894.1% during 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 buying an additional 5,336,359 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James lifted their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.82.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.2 %

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $15.95 during trading on Friday, hitting $171.95. 64,665,299 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 25,802,202. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.39. The firm has a market cap of $2.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $103.54 and a 52-week high of $174.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.77 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 30.01%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total transaction of $35,433.80. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,104 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.59, for a total transaction of $94,769.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 27,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,009,032.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.06, for a total value of $35,433.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,326,922.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.