Forbes J M & Co. LLP Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Forbes J M & Co. LLP raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,729 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,017 shares during the quarter. Forbes J M & Co. LLP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strid Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $165,000. American Capital Advisory LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 13,652 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,600,000 after purchasing an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 12,685 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,416,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 84,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,166,000 after purchasing an additional 898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 168,015 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,997,000 after purchasing an additional 25,736 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total transaction of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,061,806 shares in the company, valued at $364,259,266.02. This represents a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 89,529 shares of company stock worth $16,600,078. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $187.07 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $193.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.27. The stock has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

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.