Hopwood Financial Services Inc. Purchases Shares of 2,737 Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,737 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $521,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, FPC Investment Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 287.9% during the fourth quarter. FPC Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 225 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. This represents a 6.98 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,376,238.74. This trade represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 97,182 shares of company stock valued at $18,192,354 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $165.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $188.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $178.08. The company has a market cap of $2.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $138.21 and a one year high of $208.70. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Benchmark reaffirmed a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

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.