Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 11,002 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 174,972 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,002 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.8% of Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $33,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 4,622 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $218,000. Foster & Motley Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. now owns 9,187 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,673,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 156.9% during the 2nd quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 48,966 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,919,000 after acquiring an additional 29,903 shares during the period. Finally, Prospect Hill Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Prospect Hill Management LLC now owns 27,220 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,958,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $192.91 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.66 and a twelve month high of $201.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The stock has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.58, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $183.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.42, for a total transaction of $234,331.14. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 26,349 shares in the company, valued at $4,516,745.58. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.36, for a total value of $3,990,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,084,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $369,672,512.16. The trade was a 1.07 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 133,387 shares of company stock valued at $24,368,654. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.