Verus Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Verus Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,335 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 32.3% in the third quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 344 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kieckhefer Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 282,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,329,576.64. The trade was a 11.61 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total transaction of $232,950.47. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 121,630 shares of company stock valued at $22,258,133 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $205.60 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $207.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $189.70 and a 200-day moving average of $175.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.27, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

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.