Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is Dash Acquisitions Inc.’s 4th Largest Position

Dash Acquisitions Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 165,709 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,742 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 7.3% of Dash Acquisitions Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Dash Acquisitions Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. boosted 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 worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 33.0% in the fourth quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 266 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank raised their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, 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 note on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $181.58 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $194.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.45.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS 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 predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,515 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,007,191.15. This trade represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 134,299 shares of company stock valued at $25,055,751. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.