Vest Financial LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,221 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,833 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 42.8% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,511 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 1,953 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,544,297 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $256,177,000 after purchasing an additional 92,556 shares in the last quarter. BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% in the third quarter. BlueSky Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,337 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,072,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares in the last quarter. GenWealth Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 12.4% in the third quarter. GenWealth Group Inc. now owns 1,455 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 30.2% in the third quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,157 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $695,000 after purchasing an additional 964 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $187.07 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month 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 1.95. The company has a market capitalization 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. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $193.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.27.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” 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. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.67, for a total value of $3,975,075.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,061,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,259,266.02. The trade was a 1.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total transaction of $270,787.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 89,529 shares of company stock valued at $16,600,078. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.