Signaturefd LLC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 22.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 72,267 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,481 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,763,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,394,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,226 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP boosted its stake in Alphabet by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors LP now owns 4,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $826,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 29,246 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,890,000 after buying an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 22.5% during the third quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,411 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $167.62 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $187.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $178.10. The company has a market capitalization of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.82, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $141.13 and a 12-month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,813 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,293,285.89. This represents a 2.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 93,048 shares of company stock valued at $17,374,274. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.