Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Bought by Avantax Planning Partners Inc.

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,001 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Avantax Planning Partners Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,394,181,000 after purchasing an additional 51,226 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $1,208,000. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the third quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. now owns 11,566 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,934,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jag Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the third quarter. Jag Capital Management LLC now owns 35,292 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,901,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $165.98 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $138.21 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization 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. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $188.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $178.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,085,531.55. This trade represents a 12.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 97,182 shares of company stock worth $18,192,354. 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.