Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.1% of Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Lantern Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,666,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $167.87 on Tuesday. 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 $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $160.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.74.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.89 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS 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 is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This trade represents a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction of $238,347.78. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.