Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by AlphaStar Capital Management LLC

AlphaStar Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,351 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the period. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,590,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Thompson Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 109,097 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,776,000 after acquiring an additional 8,252 shares during the period. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,035,000. Forbes J M & Co. LLP lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Forbes J M & Co. LLP now owns 16,729 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,017 shares during the period. Finally, Strid Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $165,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $185.43 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $193.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.40. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $131.55 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market cap of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

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.