1,696 Shares in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Purchased by Pacific Point Advisors LLC

Pacific Point Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,696 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $350,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Wick Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Wick Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,722 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $515,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Vega Investment Solutions purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,302,000. Helium Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,270,000. BIP Alliance LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $591,000. Finally, Breakthru Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $854,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $170.87 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $158.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $174.89. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.07 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $192.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Westpark Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $205.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Alphabet from $235.00 to $200.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Wedbush set a $190.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-six have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $199.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 112,054 shares of company stock valued at $17,722,605. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.