Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Acquired by Wahed Invest LLC

Wahed Invest LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 122,591 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,537 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 3.9% of Wahed Invest LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Wahed Invest LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $612,000. Hutner Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Hutner Capital Management Inc. now owns 36,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,877,000 after purchasing an additional 8,252 shares during the period. South Plains Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $525,000. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $644,000. Finally, Cypress Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $788,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $203.94.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $162.79 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $162.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.30 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.36%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,685,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,723.84. This trade represents a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 148,164 shares of company stock worth $25,357,390 over the last ninety days. 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.