Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC Buys New Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,266 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 39.3% in the 4th quarter. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,964 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the 4th 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 boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% in the 4th 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. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $281,000. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 140.6% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 8,610 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $173.98 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion, a P/E ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $160.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.47. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company 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 $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 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value 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 $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,374 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,024 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,606,213.28. The trade was a 8.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 164,654 shares of company stock valued at $26,793,380 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% 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.