49 Wealth Management LLC Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

49 Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 15.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,854 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,212 shares during the period. 49 Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in 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 valued at $370,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,747,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,078,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hutchinson Capital Management CA lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Hutchinson Capital Management CA now owns 3,555 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $677,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,606,213.28. This trade represents a 8.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 129,744 shares of company stock worth $20,968,366 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $170.06 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $160.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.62. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.13, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The firm 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 company’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Westpark Capital reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

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.