Brookstone Capital Management Buys 21,378 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Brookstone Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 333,688 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,378 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 0.9% of Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $63,167,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. DBK Financial Counsel LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $211,000. City State Bank increased its position in Alphabet by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. City State Bank now owns 1,874 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH raised its stake in Alphabet by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 112,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,257,000 after buying an additional 17,411 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 27.4% in the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 67,719 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,819,000 after buying an additional 14,572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Winthrop Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC now owns 20,485 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,878,000 after buying an additional 868 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. China Renaissance upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $217.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $207.90.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.30, for a total transaction of $3,741,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,106,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $350,361,837.80. The trade was a 1.06 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 154,387 shares of company stock valued at $27,748,931 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2 %

GOOGL stock traded down $2.27 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $189.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,504,154 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,874,508. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $201.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $182.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $172.95. The company has a market cap of $2.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98.

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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

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.