Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 60.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,006 shares during the period. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Tigress Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set 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 given a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $167.87 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’s 50-day moving average price is $160.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.74. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The stock 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.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

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.