Safeguard Financial LLC Takes $226,000 Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Safeguard Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Meritage Group LP increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1,061.5% during the 3rd quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 165.8% in the third quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 319 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC now owns 338 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 301.5% in the 4th quarter. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA now owns 522 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total value of $6,597,125.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,777,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $243,854,485.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total value of $127,648.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,275,043.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 251,339 shares of company stock valued at $36,377,482. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $159.13 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $146.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $141.06. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $102.63 and a fifty-two week high of $160.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 27.22% and a net margin of 24.01%. The company had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $168.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $173.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $158.71.

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.