Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Purchased by Strategic Advisors LLC

Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,692 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 735 shares during the period. Strategic Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,465,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 87.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 266 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $186.85 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $194.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.55 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $2.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

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 transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 116,609 shares of company stock valued at $21,809,990. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.