Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Buys 12,790 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 34.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,790 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Harvest Investment Services LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 140.6% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares during the period. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $927,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.47, for a total transaction 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 approximately $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 129,744 shares of company stock valued at $20,968,366. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.5%

GOOG opened at $165.32 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $160.18 and its 200 day moving average is $176.66. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its 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 company had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. 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.