Matrix Trust Co Invests $180,000 in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Matrix Trust Co bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 953 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $180,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LMR Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Denver PWM LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% during the third quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $192.04 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $201.42. The firm has a market cap of $2.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.47, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s fifty day moving average is $182.62 and its 200 day moving average is $172.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $72.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.55 EPS. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Wedbush lifted their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $207.08.

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.