Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. Purchases New Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 680 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $129,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $966,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total transaction of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 179,324 shares of company stock worth $30,153,353. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $159.58 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average of $160.65 and a 200-day moving average of $176.97. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.36%.

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.